Track and Field Earns Pair Of Top-10 Finishes

After the Harvard men’s and women’s track and field squads earned fourth-place finishes at last weekend’s Heptagonal Championships, the Crimson finished in the top 10 again this weekend at the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championship Meet and  the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship Meet.

The men placed sixth place at the IC4A championship meet, scoring 29 points, while the women tallied 26.50 points, good for ninth place in the ECAC.

“The whole team that was competing really stepped up this weekend,” said senior middle distance runner Darcy Wilson. “We all came to race today, and everyone had standout performances.”

To compete in the IC4A and ECAC meets, athletes had to meet qualifying standards at a previous invitational in the indoor season. The Harvard men’s squad tallied 55 qualifying performances this year, while the women had 66.

IC4A CHAMPIONSHIP MEET

Hosted at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center, the IC4A Championship meet pitted the Harvard men’s squad against competitors from 46 schools. Behind balanced scoring that came from on and off the track, the Crimson scored 29 points on the weekend and finished just four points shy of a top-five finish.

Wilson chipped in 10 points for Harvard with a pair of strong 800-meter performances in the last indoor meet of his collegiate career.

“There was nothing to lose this weekend,” Wilson said. “I went out there and gave it all I had.”

Wilson finished in second place in the hotly contested 800-meter run with a time of 1:49.98. Cornell’s Rutger Admirand placed first in the event, while Louis Gibilisco of Mt. St. Mary’s finished in third. The trio made for an exciting finish to the race, all crossing the finish line in a span of less than one second.

“I wanted to put myself in the best position to score high, so I hung with the lead group and battled for four laps,” Wilson said. “I was pleased with my last lap…. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough to get the leader.”

Just 80 minutes after notching eight points for the Crimson with his second-place finish in the 800, Wilson competed on Harvard’s 4x800 meter relay team, and along with sophomore Ryan Romain and juniors Weishen Mead and Zach Herring earned sixth place and two team points in the event.

Earlier on the track, a pair of two-sport athletes added a combined three points to the Crimson’s team total. Sophomores Andrew Ezekoye and Damani Wilson, who are also members of the Harvard football team, ran the 60-meter dash in respective times of 6.92 and 6.93 seconds to finish in seventh and eighth places.

“It’s hard to quantify the impact that [Ezekoye and Wilson] have had [on the track and field program],” Saretsky said. “They bring a tremendous amount to the program. Not just their athletic ability, but [also] their attitude, the way they carry themselves. They’re great young men, and we’re happy to have them on board.”

Freshman Ben Glauser took home third place and six team points for the Crimson in the shot put with a throw of 17.95 meters. Glauser, who won the Ivy Championship in the shot put a week ago, fell to his toughest competitor, Cornell’s Stephen Mozia, who outdistanced the rookie by over nine inches to earn first place in the event.

ECAC CHAMPIONSHIP MEET

The Harvard women took ninth in a field of 50 schools in the ECAC Championship meet at Boston’s Reggie Lewis Center.

The top performance of the weekend for Harvard came from the women’s distance medley team. Senior Nicole Cochran kicked things off for the Crimson by running the 1200-meter leg. She then handed off the baton to Erika Veidis for the race’s 400-meter leg. Seniors Meghan Looney and Kailyn Kuzmuk rounded out the relay with the 800- and 1600-meter legs, respectively.

The squad ran away with the event. Cochran and co. earned first place and bested their nearest competitor by over 10 seconds,  topping the old record by a staggering seven seconds.

“Nicole really got things going for us,” Saretsky said. “She really closed hard, and from there we were, no pun intended, off to the races…. She set the tone for the others.”

Junior Mary Hirst contributed five points to the Crimson’s total by finishing in fourth place in the high jump. Hirst matched her personal best by clearing 1.77 meters.

—Staff writer Dominic A. Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.