Individuals Mark Mid-Pack Finish

The Harvard men’s and women’s track and field team traveled to Franklin Field in Philadelphia for the Outdoor Ivy League Championships, marking the culmination of its outdoor season. While the Heps doesn’t exactly have the same high-profile significance of the Penn Relays—held annually at the same site—the Crimson posted numerous exciting performances that would have arguably made any spectator believe that the most storied competition in track was being held last weekend.

“[Franklin Field] wasn’t really full, but along the finishing straight-away, it was packed with all different teams. People were yelling and cheering. It was a great Ivy League bonding opportunity.”

Six individual Ivy League titles were brought in on both sides, as the speed and strength of the Harvard athletes helped the men and women finish sixth and fourth, respectively, in competition. Overall, powerhouses Cornell and Princeton continued to dominate the Ivy League, with the Big Red finishing 1-2 in the men’s competition and the Tigers doing the same on the women’s side.

“I was really pleased with the men and women’s team’s performances,” coach Jason Saretsky said. “[Our success] is a continuation of what we did in the indoor season. It’s great to see the women’s team consistently vie in the top half of the team and have a real chance to be in the top three.”

The Crimson came out of the gates running on Saturday with impressive performances from rookies and seniors alike. And though the first day of competition was mostly preliminary rounds, Harvard still managed to bring home two individual championships.

Leading the way was freshman sensation Nico Weiler, who won his first outdoor Heps championship in the pole vault by clearing 5.20 meters.

“Nico had a great outdoor season. He really rebounded well after a somewhat disappointing Indoor Championship. He’s a great competitor and he has a tendency to rise up when the stakes are the highest.”

Sophomore Jessica Fronk also had no problem taking care of her competition. After winning the Outdoor title last year, Fronk followed up with an encore by winning the javelin event once again with a toss of 43.31 meters.

The Crimson continued its success the following day with four more great individual performances.

In the highly competitive 5,000 meter run, sophomore Claire Richardson beat out three other Princeton competitors with a time of 16:43.10 to claim her first Heps title. In doing so, she also became the first Harvard runner to win the event since Suzanne Jones did it back in 1990.

“Going in, my expectations were just to try to compete hard,” Richardson said. “That’s all you can do on any given day. Coach Saretsky is so good at telling me what to do in order to win. It was fun and it’s good to know that I got the most points for my team.”

Senior Shannon Flahive had another outstanding Heps, winning the Heptathlon and becoming the first Crimson athlete to win the title since 1982.

“Shannon was great. She’s just so consistent, and is such a good performer,” Richardson said.

Flahive finished the event by winning the 100 hurdles and the 200 meter run. She earned 4940 points along the way, earning 186 more than the runner up.

On the men’s side, junior Justin Grinstead blazed by his competition in the 400 meter hurdles, reaching the finish line with a time of 52.44 seconds. His victory marked another milestone for the track program, as Grinstead became the first Crimson man to win the event in over 24 years.

“Justin had a great weekend,” Saretsky said. “It was great to see him become the dominant sprinter in the heat from start to finish.”

Senior Becky Christensen terrorized Ivy League opponents one last time with her jaw-dropping athletic ability in the high jump. The All American won the event with a mark of 6’0’’ ½, joining just two other Ivy League competitors in history to win the event all four years.

Strong individual performances such as these have given Saretsky and his staff plenty of optimism as the team finished the outdoor season with a strong statement to its competitors.

“We had six individual Ivy League Champions,” Saretsky said. “I think that in itself is a great achievement. There were some really great performances from our youngsters. On such a young team, it bodes really well for the future.”

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