Harvard Takes on Yale in Ivy League Meet

In the world of sports, it’s not often that an opposing team can be your friend one week, then your biggest rival the next.

Just one week ago, the Harvard men and women’s track and field team teamed up with Yale to compete against Oxford and Cambridge. Last Saturday, the two teams took the track one more time—this time meeting at the Crimson’s McCurdy Track—as Ivy League rivals.

“I have always believed that when the gun goes off that’s when the competition really begins,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “When you cross the line, camaraderie and respect for your opponent is really crucial. I think it’s a great experience for our student-athletes to join forces with our biggest rival, and it really adds to the tradition, and to the competition, it gives it that extra spice.”

The Crimson women had a dominant performance against the Bulldogs, earning 101 points to Yale’s 61. The men, on the other hand, witnessed a number of outstanding individual performances and lessened the point-total gap from last year, falling 100-54.

“I’m very pleased with the women’s side,” Saretsky said. “They had a great performance, and really came out firing on all cylinders to take the victory by a sizable amount.”

Senior Favia Merritt continued to dominate on the track Saturday, posting ECAC qualifying times of 11.90 and 24.68 seconds in the 100- and 200-meter sprints, respectively. Merritt was also a member of the winning 4x100-meter relay team.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day was given by senior Brittan Smith. Smith competed in four events, placing second in the 100- and 200-meter runs. She also ran her leg of the 4x400-meter relay, and tied her career best of 6.01 meters in the long jump. Smith’s first place finish was part of a long-jump sweep for Harvard, with seniors Shannon Flahive and Elissa Reidy finishing second and third, respectively.

“Brittan Smith also had a fantastic day,” Saretsky said. “She competed in four events, so she did a really good job spreading out her energy.”

Other events that also stood out for the women included the women’s 800-meter and the 3000-meter run. The Crimson earned nine valuable points from the 800-meter after sophomores Thea Lee and Jamie Olson and senior Jan Ng finished 1-2-3 for Harvard. Sophomore Claire Richardson continued her outstanding outdoor campaign, running an ECAC qualifying time of 9:52.60 in the 3000-meter run.

While the women had no problem taking care of the Bulldogs, the men continued to struggle against their counterparts.

“We had some really strong individual performances,” Saretsky said. “We cut into Yale’s advantage over us. We’re definitely not where I would like us to be just yet, but we’re getting there.”

Freshman Stephen Geloneck led the way for the Crimson in the 100 meter run. His time of 10.60 seconds met standards for the IC4As, and was the fourth-fastest time in the program’s history.

“This was my fastest time, but we trained really hard in order to get ready for this week,” Geloneck said. “We really wanted to kill Yale.”

As impressive as Geloneck’s time was, the rookie was not entirely satisfied with his race.

“To be honest, I’m never really satisfied,” Geloneck said. “It’s a good time and I’m happy with it, but I felt like I could have run a lot better. I noticed a lot of things that could have been improved.”

Sophomore Dan Chenoweth won the 5000-meter with a time of 14:35.35, a full 12 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Freshmen Justin Grinstead also performed well in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking in at 53.28 seconds to take first place. Junior Jack Brady recorded a personal best of 50.17 meters in the discus throw to move into 10th all time in the Harvard record books.

But while many members of the team had outstanding individual performances, it wouldn’t be all fun and games for the Crimson men. With many of Harvard’s male athletes injured, it would have been difficult for the Crimson to pull out a victory against the Bulldogs.

“In the 4x100, freshman Chuma Ogunwole was sick and tore his hamstring,” Geloneck said. “We messed up the handoff, and were disqualified.”

Rookie Jon Dingus also sat out on the sidelines with either a broken or stress-fractured foot.

“I think it’s important to remember that a lot of people on our team are freshmen and sophomores, so we’re a young team,” Geloneck said. “[Yale] had a lot of experience on us.”

Harvard will head to Iowa for the Drake Relays coming up next week. This will be the Crimson’s first appearance in the prestigious meet, and both the men and the women are looking to make a good impression at the national level.

“We’re always preparing, day in and day out,” Saretsky said. “That’s one of the things with track and field, everything we do is gearing up for the next competition. We’ll continued to do the things that got us this far, and continue to work hard and get after it.

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.