Women Take First in HYP, Men Turn in Solid Showing

It was another day of personal and team bests at Gordon Track on Saturday, where the Harvard women’s track team gained bragging rights over counterparts Yale and Princeton while the men’s team continued to build upon last week’s successes.

“It’s so exciting for us because we came really close to winning last year,” co-captain Ashlinn O’Callaghan said. “Princeton was indoor [Heptagonals] champion, and they were at the top of the league, so it just means so much to us to come in first and really beat them.”

The women stole the show, winning the meet with a commanding 77 points. The team beat out Princeton by 18 points and Yale by 54.

Co-captain Becky Christensen paved the way with the second all-time high jump in program history. She topped last week’s performance at the Battle of Beantown with a 1.91-meter leap that was not only impressive but also the third time this season that the ever-improving Christensen set a personal best. This was among 9-of-15 event wins for the Crimson women.

“It’s fun going out and keeping the momentum alive,” sophomore Claire Richardson said. “It’s especially motivating with Becky setting a personal record in the high jump and everybody giving it their all.”

Richardson also shared the spotlight as she won the 3000-meter run. She came out on top with a time of 9:30.30 over a heavily favored Princeton quartet. The sophomore provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships next month and placed fifth on the Harvard all-time top-10 performance list.

The Crimson women also prevailed in the 60-meter dash, thanks to senior Favia Merritt and her time of 7.73, a personal best. Harvard swept the 60-meter hurdles, with Shannon Flahive, Dara Wilson, and Geneva Trotter coming in 1-2-3. All three have qualified for the ECAC Championships with their efforts. The team also towered above the rest in the long jump, taking the top four spots with senior Brittan Smith coming in first after leaping 5.7 meters.

Two more ECAC Championship qualifying athletes include freshman Shannon Conway and sophomore Jamie Olson. Conway beat out the rest in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.84, the fastest time by a Harvard female this year. Olson ran the 800-meter in 2:13.41 and placed second behind Yale.

Harvard women finished the day off with two strong wins in the 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter events.

The Crimson men came in third on Saturday with 32 points, a solid outing for a team that has been gaining confidence throughout the season after a weak campaign last year.

“Last year, we were a bit further back from where we are this year, so I’m really glad to see that we’re closing the gap with two of the stronger teams in the league,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said.

The highlight of the day for the men was Nico Weiler’s personal-best—and a second-best in program history—effort in the pole vault. He cleared the bar at 5.20 meters, winning the event by .3 meters. With the crowd and team cheering him on, he then attempted three times to break the program’s all-time record of 5.30 meters.

“It was great, a lot of fun,” Weiler said. “I’m finally getting back in shape; I had a hamstring injury. Today was the first time I jumped well this year.”

Freshman Darcy Wilson ran a team best on the season, placing first in the 800-meter in 1:55.48. Classmate Steven Geloneck came in second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.99, the first time this season the freshman ran under seven seconds. Junior Jonathan Brito had his best jump of the season, placing fourth with 1.89 meters in the high jump.

Captain Derek Jones had a fantastic meet, comfortably winning the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.12, thus qualifying for the IC4A D1 Championships. Jones was also pivotal in the 4x400-meter relay, where Harvard had its fastest time of the season, 3:18.77, but came in third overall. The Crimson also placed third in the 4x800-meter relay, clocking in at 8:06.46.

“For the team, we’ve come a long way, especially since my freshman year,” Jones said. “We’ve really come to a point where we’re cohesive as a team. We’re supporting each other and posting some tremendous results. Personally, my training has been really great this year.”

Sophomore Dan Chenoweth lit up the track as he won the 3000-meter race with a time of 8:10:34, six seconds ahead of second place. He and captain Chas Gellespie, who came in fourth with 8:18:81, had IC4A qualifying times.

As both teams huddled in the center of the track and celebrated the women’s performance, Harvard now sets its eyes on the Heptagonal Championships rapidly approaching in two weeks.