Seniors Highlight ECAC, IC4A Tourney Meet Weekends

While the rest of us may be swamped with finals and papers, the Harvard track and field team found itself one in a deep pool of teams at the three-day 2009 ECAC/IC4A Championships in Princeton, N.J. When the dust settled yesterday, the women’s side held on to 20th—out of 57—while the men settled for 22nd—out of 52.

“It was a good weekend for us,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “It’s always good to get back after the emotional and competitive Ivy League Championships.”

And though the middle-of-the-pack team results left a lot to be desired, several individuals took away impressive results leading to NCAA qualifications. And it was a particularly poignant weekend for the seniors competing this weekend.

Senior Becky Christensen stayed true to form, clearing a second-place 1.81-meter bar in the high jump. The clearance topped the NCAA-qualifying mark, though Christensen already claimed her NCAA bid earlier in the season.

“The competition was good. My timing was off,” Christensen said. “It was good preparation for Regionals cause a lot of the girls I competed with are the ones I’ll see in North Carolina.”

Classmate Brittan Smith also surpassed the NCAA qualifier for the second time this season. Her 6.02-meter leap in the long jump event earned her a share of second place, though a tie-breaker jump relegated her to third.

“For [Brittan] to do that at the ECAC Championships going into NCAAs is a big confidence booster for her,” Saretsky said.

And though the women’s 4x800-meter relay team finished eighth in the final yesterday, running the event in 9:11.98, the quad group of seniors Jan Ng and Aishlinn O’Callaghan, sophomore Thea Lee, and freshman Meghan Looney set a new school record in its preliminary heat. Its time of 8:51.13 on Saturday bested the previous school record of 8:52.52, set in 2006 by a group that included Ng and O’Callaghan as freshman.

Also highlighting the weekend, sophomore Eric Clayman notched a seventh-place hammer toss of 59.27 meters, earning him a bid to the NCAA Regionals taking place in two weeks.

“He had a big big breakthrough performance,” Saretsky said. “He really nailed his technique down when it mattered, and it’s great to see him move to the next level.”

Junior and next year’s co-captain Jack Brady also competed in the event, tossing the hammer 50.05 meters—good for 37th. Brady also competed in the discus and shot put, where he threw a 10th-place 48.49 meters and 24th-place 14.95 meters respectively.

Sophomore Claire Richardson, whose focus this season has primarily been on the 5K, competed in the 1500-meter run. Her time of 4:28.35 was just shy of qualifying her for her second event at NCAAs, but it did give her a new personal record in the event.

“That just shows how versatile Claire is,” Christensen said. “Claire can run anything.”

Freshman Nico Weiler continued his dominance in the pole vault, running away with the win by a tenth of a meter by clearing the 5.15-meter bar.

“Nico’s really a competitor,” Saretsky said. “He’s got a great perspective of what this meet means. The conditions weren’t ideal, but he got after it and competed hard.”

Sophomore Jessica Fronk also surpassed the NCAA-qualifying mark in the javelin—though she was already qualified from an earlier meet—with a throw of 44.32. Senior Evan Favermann followed with a 21st-place toss of 37.27 meters.

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