Split Squads, Freshman Produce Personal Bests

The Harvard track and field team split up this weekend, sending some athletes to Princeton for the two-day Sam Howell Invitational on Friday and Saturday and others to the UConn Invitational in Storrs, Conn. on Saturday.

“It was a solid weekend, getting back in the swing of things back up north here,” senior Brian Holmquest said. “A lot of different people were able to get different kinds of work in.”

Having already logged nine ECAC/IC4A qualifications and 17 personal-best finishes in the two Spring Break meets in Houston, the split-squads looked for more ways to build on their spring season success and found it in the efforts of rookie Dan Chenoweth as well as others.

In Friday night’s 5000-meter run at the Sam Howell Invitational, Chenoweth bested the second place Princetonian by more than four seconds with a time of 14:07.34, earning himself an NCAA Regional qualification to go along with the IC4A qualifier he got in Texas last weekend.

“Dan is a great competitor,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “He’s one of those athletes that just gets it.”

Next weekend, the team will again cross state lines for next weekend’s Brown Invitational in Providence.

UCONN INVITATIONAL

Four Harvard women finished in the top 10—all point-earners—in the 1500-meter run at the UConn Invitational, a meet riddled with Crimson successes. Freshman Eliza Ives led the pack with a 4:37.68 finish, good for second place, while sophomore Caitlin Clifford’s 4:42.24 time earned her fourth. Freshman Hilary May’s 4:45.84 finish and junior Aishlinn O’Callaghan’s 4:50.45 time placed them back-to-back at the sixth and seventh spots, respectively.

“I was really pleased with the way the four of them performed. They all come from different backgrounds and had different approaches,” Saretsky said, referring to O’Callaghan usually running mid-distance and Clifford usually running long distance events.

Elsewhere on the women’s side, the 4x400-meter relay team of O’Callaghan, sophomore Katie Orchowski, freshman Thea Lee, and senior Erika Geihe pulled in an eighth-place finish with a time of 4:08.32.

Co-captain Sally Stanton and classmate Clara Blattler topped the list in the pole vault. Both cleared the 3.50-meter bar, but because Stanton passed in fewer attempts she came away with first place.

On the men’s side, sophomore Robert Kenney’s 3:59.46 finish in the 1500-meter run earned him a fourth-place nod, and classmate Stephen Chester notched the fifth spot in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:53.61.

In the men’s high jump, sophomore Jonathan Brito cleared the 1.79-meter bar for fifth best, and freshman John McVey passed 4.12 meters in the pole vault to tie for third. Co-captain Alex Lewis finished fifth in pole vault, clearing 3.97 meteres.

SAM HOWELL INVITATIONAL

Ten men and 11 women participated in the Sam Howell Invitational and put together numerous top-10 performances.

“When we found out we could send some athletes down to Princeton, we wanted to make sure to put our athletes in the place where they would get the best competition,” Saretsky said.

Following Chenoweth’s success in the 5K on Friday night, fellow freshman Claire Richardson logged a 4:36.75 finish in the 1500-meter run, earning a fifth- place bid.

Co-captain Molly Boyle launched the hammer 44.28 meters for ninth place.

Junior Neville Irani and sophomore Jack Brady made strides in the discus event, throwing ninth-place, 44.90-meter and 15th-best, 40.23-meter discs, respectively.

In Saturday’s action, junior Derek Jones finished first among collegians—fourth overall—in the men’s 400-meter dash with a time of 48.42. Classmate Dara Wilson finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles, completing the event in 14.78.

Juniors Favia Merritt and Brittan Smith finished second and third in the 100-meter dash with 12.34 and 12.49 finishes, respectively, and again in the 200-meter dash with 25.24 and 25.32 times, respectively. Rookie Jamie Olson and junior Jan Ng placed second and fifth in the women’s 800-meter run at 2:14.03 and 2:15.54, respectively.

Freshman Brian Hill placed fourth in the men’s 800-meter run with a 1:53.50 finish. Sophomore Justin Grinstead and freshman Dina Emde both notched solid performances in the 400-meter hurdles. Grinstead’s 54.18 finish on the men’s side was good for fifth and, on the women’s side, Emde placed third with a 1:03.69 time.

Junior Shannon Flahive leapt 5.41 meters to secure fifth in the women’s long jump, while classmate Evan Favermann launched the javelin 37.75 meters to finish sixth in the event.

“We’ve got some good momentum with our spring break trip and these meets going into the rest of the outdoor season,” Saretsky said.

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