Spring's In the Air With Heptagonals On Horizon

Can you feel it? Spring is just around the corner.

Yes, the weather is still cold and yes, snow is still in the forecast, but this weekend the Harvard Track and Field squad will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. to compete in the Indoor Heptagonal Championships, which caps off the 2008 winter season.

“When we’re in the doldrums of December, when the spring season seems far off, we always look forward to Heps,” men’s captain Brian Holmquest said. “It brews in us.”

Second only to the spring Heptagonals, the indoor championship marks the second biggest meet for the Crimson. And, hot off individual successes in last weekend’s USATF New England Championships, the men’s and women’s teams are looking to make tracks in the Heptagonal pool.

At last year’s indoor Heps, the women finished in the middle of the pack with just 50 points, while the men had a disappointing eighth-place finish in the two-day tournament.

So how do the Harvard student-athletes plan to put forth their best foot for this upcoming weekend?

“We’re going to take care of our business and we’ll do well,” Holmquest said. “The guys that have been performing well all year will perform well at Heps and score points.”

If this season is any indication, then the Crimson is bound to offer a solid performance. In last weekend’s New England Championship tune-up, junior Becky Christensen cleared a 1.78m bar in the high jump, which matched her second-place jump in last year’s Heps.

“Their measuring was ridiculous,” Christensen said, correcting that last weekend’s jump was really 1.79m. “But in terms of the Ivy League, the really good high jumper graduated last year so there won’t really be any competition.”

Clara Blattler—who set the Harvard pole-vaulting record last year—is fresh off a first-place finish in last weekend’s event. And with Dartmouth’s Lilly Bertz having graduated last season, it only paves the way for continued success for the the Crimson vaulters.

And junior Brittan Smith has vastly improved from last year’s campaign. At the HYP meet—which pitted traditional Heptagonal rivals Harvard, Yale, and Princeton—the California native collected wins in the 60 meter dash, 200 meter dash, and long jump with a 5.74 meter leap, 24 centimeters longer than her Hep finish last year.

For the men, they’re hoping to rebound from a third-place finish in the HYP meet. Getting another chance at the two Ivy opponents, the Crimson hopes to improve its standing in the league.

“One thing you can always count on is people from other Ivy League schools are going to bring their A-game,” head coach Jason Saretzky said. “You just can’t rest on your laurels.”

“It’s a very different kind of meet from HYP,” Holmquest added. “It’s a different kind of stage, a more focused meet.”

The men’s side has had a difficult time filling out a full roster in past meets, but are looking to use the Heptagonals to “get a good look at the other Ivy League teams,” according to Saretzky.

This Saturday and Sunday’s Heptagonal Championships will offer invaluable experience to the young men’s squad, going into the spring season.

“Heps is a good mid-way point,” Holmquest said. “We’re just going to perform well in indoor Heps and keep it going into outdoors.”

“Most of our team is peaking right now,” Christensen added, optimistic about Harvard’s chances in the weekend’s tournament.

Heptagonal action kicks off this Saturday at Cornell’s Barton Hall and continues through Sunday.

After that, Christensen said, “We can rest a few weeks before spring.”

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