For First Time, Track Teams Avoid Last Place

The Harvard men’s and women’s track teams both competed in tune-up meets this weekend, using the opportunities to prepare for upcoming competitions.

For the men, things went as planned, as junior miler Christopher Green led the team to second place at the Harvard Select Meet.

UConn won the event with 101 points, while the Crimson finished with 30 points, and Northeastern brought up the rear with 27.

“We came in second, and it’s the first time we have beaten anyone all year, so that’s a plus,” assistant coach Paul Turner said. “And we had some good things happen on the track in terms of season bests in the mile and point production in the throws.”

Harvard won two of the day’s 16 events—the wins coming at the beginning and end of the meet with a few key seconds and thirds along the way.

Green and senior Sean Barrett finished 1-2 in the mile, each recording his best time of the season.

Green’s mark of 4:13.60 qualifies him for the IC4A Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, a meet that he also qualified for last week with a 1:53.38 showing in the 800 meters.

On the track, sophomore Nils Wernerfelt ran a season-best 51.01 to take third in the 400 meters.

The squad also received third-place finishes from junior Haibo Lu in the 1,000 meters and freshman Stephen Chester in the 3,000 meters.

Chester posted a personal-best time of 9:23.53.

Junior Alex Lewis returned from a semester abroad in Spain to place third in the high jump with a distance of 1.91 meters.

The Crimson also got a pair of second-place finishes on the track. Sophomore Alex Tremblay recorded a distance of 6.64 meters in the long jump, and junior Alex Obrecht put the shot 14.54 meters.

In the 4x400 meter relay, Harvard held off UConn to take first in 3:22.98.

A last-minute cancellation from the Northeastern and UConn women’s squads left the Harvard women’s team scrambling to find a track meet this weekend.

“We still wanted to compete because we have to get ready for [the Heptagonal Championships],” sophomore Brittan Smith said. “Our coaches called Yale, and those who made the qualifying standards entered the meet at the last minute.”

A select number traveled to New Haven on Friday night for the Giengengack Invitational and turned in their best performances of the season. Another contingent will head to Boston University today for the Indoor vs. Multi Team Meet.

Sophomore Becky Christensen continued to collect records as she bettered the year-old meet record of 1.70 meters with a jump of 1.75 meters. Christensen, who is currently ranked 11th in the nation in the high jump, was coming off a personal best jump of 1.80 meters in the tri-meet against Brown and Cornell.

“I ended up jumping one height below my jump from last week,” Christensen said. “After that, I had three really good attempts at 1.80 meters.”

Junior Danielle Mirabel also placed in the high jump, grabbing third with a jump of 1.60 meters. It was a busy night for the junior, who also placed eighth in the 60-meter dash and 11th in the 60-meter hurdles.

Smith finished eighth in the high jump and recorded a personal best in a second-place finish in the long jump. Her leap of 5.76 meters meets the 5.70-meter qualifying standard for the ECAC Championships.

Smith’s performance also puts her at the top of the Ivy League standings in the long jump.

“It was the first time I had taken a longer approach,” Smith said. “I usually only take about six strides and I went to about 10. I was expecting to do a little bit better but I didn’t expect to PR by a foot and a half.”

In the weight throw, junior Molly Boyle took third with a distance of 14.15 meters.

In the track events, freshman Kelsey LeBuffe and junior Veronica Leitold grabbed second and third, respectively, in the 1,000 meters. Sophomore Shannon Flahive finished 10th in the 200 meters in a time of 25.60 seconds.

Up next for the Crimson is a trip to Princeton, N.J. for a meet against Princeton and Yale on Feb. 10.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Compton can be reached at compton@fas.harvard.edu.