Crimson Posts Solid Performance

Splitting ranks between the Harvard-hosted Crimson Multi Meet and the Terrier Invitational at Boston University on Friday and Saturday, the Harvard co-ed track and field team notched two event wins, five ECAC and IC4A qualifiers, and 17 top-10 finishes.

“I was really pleased with how we competed,” Crimson coach Jason Saretsky said. “Coming off of final exams is always pretty tricky, so it’s good to see we’re all ramped up for this indoor series.”

Freshman John Dingus provided the highlight of the weekend’s events with his 48.37 finish in the 400-meter dash at BU, earning a new school record for the indoor event and a fourth-place finish on the day. Kobie Fuller ’02 held the previous record at 48.38, which he set in his senior year.

“[John has] really been a pleasant surprise for us,” Saretsky said. “Fastest time in indoors for a freshman is truly remarkable.”

Harvard now heads into a five-meet home stretch that will wrap up the end of the indoor season, culminating with the Heptagonal Championships.

TERRIER INVITATIONAL

Joining Dingus on the 400-meter leaderboards, senior Derek Jones took 10th in the event with a finish of 49.22, and freshman Jonathan Meminger posted a 17th-place time at 49.61.

The Crimson ‘A’ quad for the 4x400-meter relay captured 11th with a time of 3:21.10.

Junior Jonathan Brito added another strong performance with an eighth-place jump in the high jump, clearing the 1.84-meter bar, while rookie Phil Ngo logged a 12th-place long jump of 6.49 meters.

Volunteer coach Chris Bryce won the weight throw event with a toss of 20.04 meters, earning a qualifier for the USATF Championship.

On the women’s side, sophomore Claire Richardson capped things off with her sixth-place finish in the 5K, clocking in at an ECAC-qualifying 16:50.78.

“It was a [personal record] which was nice,” Richardson said. “It felt really good. It was just nice to be back racing.”

Sophomores Hilary May and Jamie Olson and freshman Nichole Cochran finished eighth, 10th, and 11th in the 1000-meter run, all earning ECAC qualifications.

May timed in at 2:53.38, while Olson and Cochran finished at 2:56.11 and 2:57.26, respectively.

Elsewhere, senior Dara Wilson took ninth in the 55-meter hurdles at 8.39, while co-captain Aishlinn O’Callaghan finished the 500-meter run in 1:16.03 to also earn ninth in her event.

Junior Elissa Reidy posted a pair of top-10 marks with her seventh-place, 5.30-meter jump in the long jump and eighth-place, 11.20-meter leap in the triple jump.

CRIMSON MULTI MEET

Harvard assistant coach Matt Chisam won the men’s heptathlon with 5322 points, while volunteer coach Kasey Hill won the women’s pentathlon with 4009 points. Senior Shannon Flahive, sophomore Dina Emde, and freshman Nicole Sliva took the two, three, and four spots at 3382, 3066, and 3032 points, repectively. Rookie Christine Reed captured seventh in the event with 2842 points.

“The multi is an event that is unlike anything else,” Saretsky said. “One of the biggest thing we wanted to accomplish was to get our student athletes some experience, get one under the belt. It was really valuable.”

Winning the high jump (1.99 meters), pole vault (4.55 meters), and hurdles (8.40 seconds), Chisam sailed to an easy victory in the heptathlon, while freshman Tyler Funk captured eighth in the event.

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