Meet Highlighted by Harvard Personal Bests

The Harvard track and field team continued to rack up personal bests this weekend at the Brown Invitational in Providence, R.I. Though the women finished fourth out of seven teams, and the men brought home seventh, there were several bright spots individually and the squad can have a lot to look forward to following this weekend.

“It was a good meet for us,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “We were able to work on some things that need to get done. We had some great performances all around.”

Senior pole-vaulter Clara Blattler headlined the weekend’s action, besting the Harvard school record of 3.65 meters—which she set at last year’s UConn Invitational—by clearing 3.80 meters. The clearance ties her indoor personal best that she said at last year’s indoor Heptagonal Championships. She barely missed the Regional qualification—as the mark was raised from 3.80 to 3.85 this year—but walked away with first place in the event.

“She and I have really been at a barrier for a while,” co-captain and fellow pole vaulter Sally Stanton said. “We were at the 3.65 barrier. It was great that she could clear that barrier.”

Junior Favia Merritt broke the 25-second mark in the 200-meter dash, legging out the event in 24.92, good enough for second place. The Maryland native’s time was just a fraction of a second off her personal best of 24.73, which she set at last year’s Harvard-Yale meet.

Freshman Claire Richardson also notched a first-time accomplishment, running the mile in under five minutes. Her 4:58.43 finish earned her third in the event.

Fellow rookies Jamie Olson and Hilary May and junior Jan Ng all finished in the top 10 in the 800-meter run. Olson placed third overall with a time of 2:13.03, while May raced a sixth-place 2:15.93 and Ng a ninth-best 2:16.64.

The young trio of freshmen Dina Emde and Thea Lee and sophomore Katie Orchowski finished two, three, four in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking in at 1:04.56, 1:05.56, and 1:08.02, respectively.

“The 400 hurdles is a strong event for us,” Saretsky said. “It showed great depth for us, and it showed that Thea and Katie have improved. All three of them can help push each other a little bit.”

Sophomore Cara Sprague—having just finished her nordic ski season for the Crimson—competed for the first time this season in the steeplechase. She placed third in the event with an 11:41.87 finish.

The women’s 4x400 team—Emde, Lee, Orchowski, and Ng—took second in the event with a time of 3:58.25.

Sophomore Eda Karesin won the javelin competition with a toss of 42.34 meters.

After fouling on her first two attempts, junior Brittan Smith jumped a whopping 5.91 meters, an outdoor personal best for her. Her jump was more than a foot further than Dartmouth’s Cassandra Tanner and Brown’s Rachel Biblo, but fell just short of the qualifying mark for Regionals of six meters.

“Brittan’s done a great job of really becoming a jumper,” Saretsky said. “[Saturday’s] jump really showed that she’s made that transformation into a jumper. It was great to see the performance there when she needed it the most.”

On the men’s side, the rookies continued to build on their successes, as Brian Hill had a third-best, 1:52.84 finish in the 800-meter run, a new personal best for him in the event. Classmate Sean Gil finished atop the pole vault competition with a personal-best 4.80 meters.

Rounding out the rookie effort, Eric Clayman’s 53.26-meter hammer throw finished second among collegians and third overall, as Harvard volunteer coach Chris Bryce won the event, hurling the hammer 60.70 meters.

“[Bryce] is a great athlete,” Saretsky said, noting that Bryce is working on his Olympic qualification. “He’s a great mentor and someone the other throwers on the team can really work off of.”

Sophomore Vito Cannavo logged a personal-best 4:20.92 time in the mile to take second place.

The Crimson walked away with four event wins in a meet that featured three Ivy League opponents, which bodes well for the upcoming Ivy League competition—next weekend’s Harvard-Yale meet and the Penn Relays following that.

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