Track Kicks Off Season at Northeastern Husky Winter Carnival

Harvard track and field kicked off its indoor season with a fast start at Saturday’s Northeastern Husky Winter Carnival.

While no team score was kept, both the men’s and women’s squads registered strong opening meets, with a combined 15 top-10 performances on the day.

The women’s squad had the strongest debut, with three winners and 12 top-10 finishes.

Junior Becky Christensen won the high jump by clearing 1.72 meters.

“Basically, the goal is basically just shake off the dust and get back into competing,” Christensen said. “I jumped kind of how I expected. I jumped about the same as I did at the first meet the last two years.”

Senior Danielle Mirabal won the 55-meter dash, finishing in 7.30 seconds, while freshman Cassandra Bowe was the top performer from a very strong freshman class, winning the 800 meters in a time of 2:21.02.

The Crimson was especially strong in the field events on Saturday, with a pair of rookies making their mark in the high jump. Dina Emde and Jade Randle were fifth and ninth, respectively, after both cleared 1.57 meters.

“They both jumped really well in high school, just about what I jumped at this meet,” Christensen said. “I think by the end of the year they can both jump really well.”

Co-captain Sally Stanton, part of a deep group of Crimson pole vaulters, finished second and was the top college finisher at the event after clearing 3.5 meters, while fellow senior Clara Blattler was fourth after also clearing 3.5 meters.

Co-captain Molly Boyle landed in second in the weight throw after a heave of 14.29 meters, and junior Brittan Smith rounded out the individual field top-10s with a fifth-place finish in the long jump (5.41 meters).

On the track, junior Favia Merritt took fourth in the 200 meters in 25.97 seconds, while juniors Dara Wilson and Shannon Flahive finished fifth and seventh in the 55-meter hurdles, respectively.

“I was extremely happy with my performance and with my teammates’ performance overall,” Merritt said. “I was pleased with where my progress is from last year’s first meet to this year’s first meet.”

Junior Aishlinn O’Callaghan placed 10th in the mile after crossing the line at 5:20.79. The women’s 4x400 meter relay team finished sixth in 4:04.52.

It was a slightly quieter day for the men, with only three top-10 finishers but 10 competitors in the top 15 of their respective events.

Senior co-captain Alex Obrecht led the way for Harvard, finishing second in the shot put with a 14.32-meter throw. Junior Derek Jones finished eighth in the 400 meters, clocking in at 51.04, while sophomore Jonathan Brito finished eighth in the high jump after clearing 1.82 meters.

Among those just outside the top 10 was a trio of freshmen, as Brian Hill placed 11th in the mile, Brian Reis finished 12th in the 1000 meters, and John McVey was 12th in the pole vault. Senior co-captain Alex Lewis finished 15th in the pole vault, as both he and McVey cleared 3.81 meters. Sophomore Justin Grinstead was 12th in the 800 meters, while classmate Jack Brady finished 11th in the weight throw after a throw of 14.17 meters.

“Jack Brady had a wrist injury, so he didn’t throw the shot, but his weight throw was an extreme improvement from last year,” Obrecht said.

Sophomore Graham Infinger rounded out the top-15 finishes, placing 15th in the long jump.

Overall, the teams were upbeat about their opening efforts.

“We’re basically just taking the first step toward the conference meets in March,” Obrecht said. “We’ve got a lot of young kids out there, and a lot of them are competing as well as they can and putting up some good marks.”

—Staff writer Brad Hinshelwood can be reached at bhinshel@fas.harvard.edu.