Talent Runs in the Family

It’s likely that many a Harvard biology and psychology professor would love to debate the existence of an “athletic gene.”

Given a chance to enter into the debate, the coaches and players of the Crimson cross-country team would argue that there must be.

Considering the team’s strong evidence, those professors who believe there is no such thing may just have to concede defeat.

Cara Sprague and Claire Richardson are junior runners for Harvard, but what these teammates have in common—besides the track—is that they both have a younger brother on the team.

Kevin Sprague and Stewart Richardson are freshmen at Harvard this year and have joined their siblings on the Crimson’s roster. In Kevin’s case, he will also be nordic skiing for Harvard with Cara in the winter.

Claire, the women’s cross country captain, was named All-Regional in 2007 and 2008 as well as first-team All Ivy-League for outdoor track in 2008 and 2009 and indoor track in 2009. In addition, she has been named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District I second team and Academic All-Ivy League.

Cara has competed at the Harvard-Yale dual meet and the Heptagonal Championships.

She was also the top Harvard finisher and 17th overall at the University of Albany Invitational in 2009, and while neither of the younger siblings has had a chance to garner such success with only one collegiate race to their credit, the boys will rely on ample past experience running with the family.

Claire and Stewart both started running when they reached the seventh grade, while the Spragues have a tradition of hitting the pavement together.

“I started because the coach said, ‘you should come out and run’ when I was in middle school,” Claire said. “He did the same thing to Stewart. It’s been cool to be able to watch his [Stewart’s] progression.”

For their part, Cara and Kevin—the youngest of four children—have two older sisters, one of whom, Erin, graduated from Harvard in 2005 and yes, she ran track too.

“Our family ran, but it was never something our parents pushed us to do,” Cara explained. “We just kind of fell into it and really enjoyed it.”

“My dad was always into running,” Kevin added. “And our oldest sister, Erin, was an influence for us.”

Skiing was another family activity for the Spragues, who are from Queensbury, New York.

“Our family would go up every winter to Gore Mountain in North Creek [New York] and ski,” Cara said. “not only downhill, but cross country skiing as well. Kevin and I are the youngest, so we always paired up for things.”

When they got to middle school and high school, skiing was offered as a team sport, which allowed the Spragues to become even closer.

“Everyone who ran cross country [in high school] also skied cross country in the winter,” Cara said, “so [Kevin and I] hung out with the same group of friends.”

“Nordic skiing is a big sport for me,” Kevin added. “I was on two state championship teams during my junior and senior year in high school, after Cara graduated.”

Clearly, all four Crimson athletes were inspired to take up these sports by those close to them, but inevitably, the “nature vs. nurture” debate must come up.

Are these two sets of siblings genetically predetermined to be successful Harvard athletes? Or, rather, is it that an athletic family atmosphere has turned into a love for sports?

It seems that the Spragues just took a casual interest in running, but perhaps it does have something to do with family genes. Their great grandfather held a cross country record at Van Cortlandt Park in New York and qualified for the 1916 summer Olympics, which would have been held in Berlin, Germany, had it not been cancelled due to World War I.

The Spragues’ rich history has allowed Kevin not only to run for a Division I school, but also to enjoy the sport he loves with a sister he is very close to.

“I tried to keep my decision [of which college to attend] open,” Kevin said. “I approached it like any other school, and it turned out that I loved Cambridge and the running program.”

So is it nature or is it nurture that has brought these brothers and sisters along the same path?

Either way, both sets of siblings plan to make their mark on Crimson athletics, and Harvard cross-country is more than happy to keep it all in the family.