Harvard Shows Depth at Heptagonal Championships

In a season of individual accomplishments and strong team showings, the Harvard cross country teams did not disappoint at the Heptagonal Championships this Friday. The men’s and women’s squads traveled to Van Cortlandt Park in New York and emerged with the first individual men’s title and highest women’s finish since 1995.

The women’s team finished second, while the men earned sixth in the squads’ final tune-up before NCAA regionals in two weeks.

According to players and coaches, the Crimson women derive much of their success from their consistency up and down the lineup.

“We just have so much depth right now,” junior captain Jamie Olson said. “There are about 20 seconds between our second girl and our sixth girl…In any given race, you don’t know where you are going to be within the team, and that’s a huge thing.”

Harvard certainly maintained this consistency over the weekend, as all five scorers finished in the top 20. Junior Claire Richardson notched another personal best, crossing the line in 17:28 for sixth overall. Rookie Sammy Silva finished 12th in 17:53.7, with junior Eliza Ives, sophomore Nicole Cochran, and sophomore Kailyn Kuzmuk completing the effort. Kuzmuk’s time of 18:10.6 left only 16.9 seconds between the Crimson’s second and fifth runner.

Unfortunately for Harvard, while the solid pack limited the score to a respectable 69 points, the team could not keep pace with No. 4 Princeton. The Tigers claimed the top five spots in the race, leaving little doubt as to which squad dominates the Ivy League.

“We would have liked to have broken [Princeton] up a bit and not let them have that perfect score,” Crimson coach Jason Saretsky said. “But you have to tip your hat to them. They are a very, very talented squad, and they came to take care of business.”

Behind the Tigers and Harvard, Columbia had 75 points, followed by Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, and Yale.

On the men’s side, junior Dan Chenoweth continued a stellar year for the Crimson, as he dominated another Ivy League field to finish first. The third-year runner posted a 25:09.2 on the 8K course, 10.5 seconds better than his closest competitor, Brown’s Christian Escareno. Chenoweth’s 5:01 mile pace was impressive on paper, but Saretsky praised his top runner’s intangible skills even more.

“[Chenoweth] is a great competitor,” Saretsky said. “He had to dig deep and battle, and the race was won up cemetery hill. It was kind of fitting to have it come down to the most grueling part of the course, because he is such a hard worker.”

Despite being the favorite entering the race, Chenoweth agreed with his coach that a win was not guaranteed.

“Things clicked a little bit, but I didn’t have [the race] wrapped up at any point,” he said. “Until I crossed the line I was like, ‘keep going, keep going,’ and it was a great relief once I got there.”

Behind Chenoweth, the Crimson relied once again on a young core of runners to round out its scoring. Freshman Phil Galebach earned 29th overall in 26:21.7, followed by junior Ryan Neely, freshman Jeremy Gilmour, and sophomore Michael Hoffman. Chenoweth praised the effort of his younger teammates, some of whom have contributed much more than expected early in their careers.

“I think that it’s been good to see those [younger] guys step up,” Chenoweth said. “Coming in, we thought we’d be a little more experienced, but with the injuries we’ve had, we didn’t know where the scores would be coming from. Those guys have been great, though. It’s tough for freshmen at the longer distance, but they’ve been key to our success.”

According to Saretsky, Chenoweth has reason to be proud of his teammates’ effort, as the junior standout’s work ethic has contributed to their improvement.

“[Chenoweth] is one of the most diligent runners on the team,” Saretsky said. “His dedication and commitment are a great inspiration for other guys.”

Still, the Harvard men have room for improvement among their Ivy foes. Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown all finished ahead of the Crimson, leaving Yale and Penn in the final two spots.

“It was a good day for us, but we were hoping to get a little higher,” Chenoweth said. “It wasn’t crazy great, but we managed to overcome some small difficulties and hold it together.”

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.