Crimson Strong in Large Field at USATF Meet

High schoolers, college students, and masters packed the friendly confines of Gordon Indoor Track yesterday as they all tried to leave their mark in the USATF New England Indoor Championships. In what women’s co-captain Sally Stanton described as a “big, disorganized meet,” Harvard offered several impressive individual showings, as team rankings were not recorded.

“This meet was really a practice meet for us,” Stanton said, looking forward to next weekend’s Heptagonal Championships, which marks the culmination of the indoor track and field season.

The women didn’t race any distance runners, but did notch formidable dash and mid-distance runs. Despite having to restart twice, Junior Brittan Smith finished second in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.84, while senior Lauren Walker and freshman Meredith MacGregor legged out second-place 2:18.87 and eighth-place 2:26.37 finishes, respectively.

“Actually the girl I came second behind to is the fastest girl in the league,” Smith said. “For me, to even keep that close behind her makes me feel good about next weekend.”

In the field events, the women had more participation and equally successful outcomes. Senior co-captain Molly Boyle hurled a 16.02m distance in the weight throw, good enough for fourth place, while classmate Jill Sylvester finished close behind with a tenth-place toss of 13.19m.

The Crimson logged three top-20 performances in the long jump, with sophomore Kelli Okuji anchoring the Harvard jumpers with a fifth-best 5.40m leap. Freshmen Jessica Fronk and Dina Emde rounded out the Crimson effort with 5.12m and 4.44m jumps for eighth and 17th place finishes, respectively.

Stanton and classmate Clara Blattler finished in a three-way tie with AirTime Athletic’s Ashley Nolet atop the pole vault finishers by clearing a 3.65m bar. With fewer misses than the other two, Blattler took first place in the event.

Junior Becky Christensen rounded out the Harvard competitors with a first-place 1.78m clearance in the high jump.

“A lot of people who usually compete in many events, only did one event,” Smith said. “It’s kind of more a way for us to gauge where we are in the weekend before the biggest competition of the year.”

The men’s side took more of an opportunity to gauge where it is coming off a disappointing third place finish in the HYP meet last weekend.

Senior Haibo Lu snatched first in the 800 meter run with a 1:57.18 finish, while sophomore Vito Cannevo captured fourth at 1:59.27.

Sophomore Stephen Chester finished the 3K in 9:00.47 to seal a fifth-place bid.

Junior Neville Irani and freshman Eric Clayman finished back-to-back in the weight throw, hurling 16.45m and 15.83m, respectively, for sixth and seventh in the event.

Sophomore Graham Infinger tied Northeastern University’s Andrew Staples at sixth in the long jump with a 6.44m leap.

Rookie Sean Gil posted a second-place clearance of 4.70m in the pole vault, while classmate John McVey finished in a five-way tie for fifth in the event at 4.25m. Sophomore Jonathan Brito cleared 1.88m for fourth in the high jump.

Hoping to have sharpened its game yesterday, Harvard awaits the Heptagonal Championships next weekend in Ithaca, N.Y.

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.