Boston Squads Clash

Five individual winners for the Crimson highlighted the first-ever Battle of Beantown, held at Gordon Track on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough for top team awards as the women’s track team finished third and the men placed fourth in the four-team field.

One of the highlights of the day for Harvard was junior Becky Christensen’s performance. Christensen, who finished 10th in the outdoor high jump at the NCAA championship meet last season, cleared 1.80 meters in this indoor event, provisionally qualifying her for nationals in indoor track this season.

“I’ve been having really good attempts at higher heights,” Christensen said. “I’ve been having really great height this year, but I’ve been having some trouble with my timing over the bar.”

Christensen will be looking to improve further, however; she cleared 1.81 meters during the indoor season last year, only to be left out of the national meet when she wasn’t selected. Freshmen Jade Randle and Dina Emde contributed points in the high jump as well, placing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Senior Molly Boyle had a career afternoon in the weight throw, winning the event with a heave of 15.98 meters. Co-captain Sally Stanton continued her form from last weekend’s breakthrough event, equaling her career-best pole vault mark of 3.75 meters in winning the event. Fellow senior Clara Blattler cleared 3.65 meters to take second place.

Junior Aishlinn O’Callaghan placed second in the 500 meters, finishing in 1:16.05.

On the men’s side, freshman Dan Chenoweth and Brian Hill led the way with victories in their respective events. Chenoweth clocked a personal-best 8:16.45 in winning the 3,000 meters, while Hill also ran a personal-best of 1:54.85 in winning the 800 meters.

Crimson weight throwers also posted a pair of bests on the way to placing second in their respective events. Sophomore Jack Brady’s 15.59 meter heave in the shot put was a season-best, while freshman Eric Clayman’s 15.39 meter weight throw was a career-best. Harvard went 2-3 in the weight throw, as junior Neville Irani took third.

Senior Brian Holmquest, racing in a different event for training purposes, took second in the mile, running a 4:17.07.

He was part of the strong distance contingent for the Crimson men, as sophomore Robert Kenney finished second in the 1,000 meters to go along with Chenoweth’s win.

“I probably pressed a little too hard at different points in the race,” Holmquest said. “While it wasn’t a good day, it wasn’t a bad day either.”

“I’m really happy with how the guys are training consistently,” he added. “People are competing and they’re making it exciting.”

Sophomore Justin Grinstead finished second in the 500 meters, just 0.2 seconds behind the winner.

The men’s squad finished fourth, scoring 108 points, narrowly behind Boston College’s 111. BU was second with 130, and Northeastern took the men’s title with 172 points.

The Harvard women placed third with 112, edging Northeastern’s 103. BC scored 175 points to win the event, with BU second with 126 points.

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