Individual Highlights Mark Full Day of Competition

Although Cornell won on the women’s side and Connecticut captured the men’s crown, the Harvard co-ed track and field team posted impressive individual performances at Saturday’s Harvard Select Meet at Gordon Track.

“We had some really good performances,” Crimson coach Jason Saretsky said. “The team scores are a little misleading because our lineup was a little different. Our approach this year is really about building. I’m just really pleased with where we’re at.”

Never failing to impress, women’s co-captain Becky Christensen topped her personal best in the high jump with a 1.86-meter leap—improving from 1.85, which she set earlier this year at the Harvard Open.

Christensen’s jump cleared the NCAA automatic qualifier, which guarantees that she will be competing on the national level in mid-March in College Station, Tex.

“I was really happy that I was able to jump really well,” Christensen said. “I had my good mark from our second meet in December, but it makes me feel really confident that I didn’t lose anything over the break and that I’m getting better.”

Sophomore Hilary May, fresh off her victory in the 3K at the NYU Metro Coaches Invitational three weeks ago, picked up another win—this time in the one-mile run—with a time of 4:58.44. The finish put her a full two seconds ahead of the next runner and qualifies May for the ECAC Championships in March.

Rookie Kailyn Kuzmuk edged out the Big Red’s Fiona Cundy in the 3K with a time of 9:55.14 for first place and an ECAC qualifier, while senior Shannon Flahive picked up a win in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.71—another ECAC qualifying time. Flahive was beat out by Cornell’s Jeomi Maduka for first in the long jump and finished back-to-back with freshman Lauren Leon in the 200-meter dash. Flahive came in sixth with a time of 25.86, while Leon followed in seventh with a 26.64 finish.

Newcomer Magda Robak took a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash at 59.00, while sophomore Katrina Drayton placed ninth at 1:00.21 and junior Kathryn Orchowski finished 13th at 1:01.18.

In the 800-meter run, women’s co-captain Aishlinn O’Callaghan finished 10th, clocking in at 2:21.42.

The distance medley team captured the win with a time of 12:01.75, while the 4x400-meter relay squad finished second to Cornell with a time of 4:01.53.

Freshman Stacey Jung and sophomore Paige Martin finished second and third in the pole vault, matching each other with 3.05-meter bounds—Martin did so using more attempts, placing her at the three spot.

Senior Dara Wilson was the Crimson’s sole competitor in the triple jump, finishing 10th with a jump of 9.91 meters, and freshman Lauren Barber provided the lone Harvard showing in the weight throw competition, launching the weight 12.55 meters to place eighth.

On the men’s side, freshman Nico Weiler, who wasted no time proving himself by winning the pole vault event in December’s Husky Invitational, cleared the 4.80-meter bar on Saturday to capture first place in the event and earn himself an IC4A qualifier.

“Nico is obviously a pretty special talent,” Saretsky said of Weiler, who came to Harvard having already competed on the international stage. “His work ethic and his intensity to this sport are a testament to his success.”

Fellow rookie Steven Geloneck took sixth in the 60-meter dash, with a time of 7.03, while senior Derek Jones and freshman Chukwuma Ogunwole placed eighth and 13th in the 200-meter dash, finishing at 23.19 and 23.59, respectively.

In the 400-meter dash, junior Justin Grinstead finished fifth, with a time of 49.98, while newcomer Brian Paison took 10th in the 800-meter run at 1:55.85.

Freshman Dan Stiles, junior Vito Cannavo, and sophomores Mark Hirschboeck and Alex Brenner all competed in the one-mile run. Stiles finished ninth at 4:23.17, Cannavo was 11th with 4:24.93, Hirschboeck was 12th with 4:25.25, and Brenner was 14th with 4:29.79.

A trio of Harvard runners placed in the men’s 3K, with newcomer Michael Hoffman coming in fifth at 8:38.46, sophomore Ryan Neely placing seventh at 8:40.80, and junior Stephen Chester crossing the line ninth at 8:57.10.

Freshmen Phil Ngo and Jacques Barjon finished back-to-back in the long jump with respective 6.53- and 6.52-meter bounds to place sixth and seventh.

Junior Jack Brady launched the shot 15.36 meters to earn sixth, while senior Neville Irani and sophomores Ablorde Ashigbi and Eric Clayman all finished top-10 in the weight throw, with throws of 16.90 meters (fourth place), 15.99 meters (seventh), and 15.85 meters (eighth), respectively.

The Crimson now heads into its final two meets before Heptagonals—with one of those meets being the always-exciting Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet, taking place at Gordon Track in two weeks.

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