Cross Country Splits Squad for Two Weekend Meets

Looking to gain some momentum before its most important meet of the year, the Harvard men’s and women’s cross country team split squads as competitors headed out to the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational and Princeton Invitational this weekend.

The races marked the last chance for the Crimson athletes to compete and stake their claim for a spot in the top 12 prior to the 2014 Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.

PRINCETON INVITATIONAL

On Saturday, many of the Crimson runners competing for a spot on the Heps roster got an early feel of the championships course at the Princeton Invitational.

“The experience is valuable,” captain Will Geiken said. “For them to get the experience on the course two weeks ahead of time, they’ll know which points they had difficulties with and will prepare for it these two weeks.”

The women had a strong day, placing seventh in a field of 35 teams led by sophomores Stephanie Deccy and Rachel Hampton, who finished in 36^th and 46^th, respectively with times of 22:30 and 22:35.

Harvard’s scoring group was closed out by freshman Elianna Shwayder, junior Emma Payne, and freshman Fiona Davis with times of 22:40, 22:52, 23:07, respectively, giving Harvard five of the top 90 scoring runners. This was good enough to beat out Ancient Eight rival Cornell and finish just behind Princeton.

On the men’s side, sophomore Brandon Price finished with a time of 25:07 to lead the team to a 50^th place finish. The top five was wrapped up with four runners who finished within 10 seconds of each other as sophomore Evan Grandfield, sophomore Jack Stevenson, senior Fred Ward, and freshman Tyler Spear crossed the lines with times of 25:32, 25:36, 25:39, and 25:42.

The solid performance from the Crimson athletes has head coach Jason Saretsky believing that the team can pull together to its full potential by the time of Heps.

“I felt all along that we should be a contending team,” Saretsky said. “Everything hasn’t been able to come together yet, but everything we gear towards is with the championship in mind, and we’re building confidence.”

WISCONSIN ADIDAS INVITATIONAL

Looking to continue a solid season thus far, the men came out with a respectable performance led by junior Tom Purnell, who continued his strong campaign with a 24:33 finish, good enough for 85^th in a field of 247.

The junior was followed by Geiken who finished just 10 seconds off, while freshman Ben Huffman continued his impressive collegiate debut by crossing the line with a time of 24:55, good for third on the team. Seniors Nephat Maritim and Dan Milechman closed out the scoring contingent with times of 24:56 and 25:23, respectively.

While the placement might not have indicated the best of races, the team continues to improve and asserted itself well against its fellow Ancient Eight competitors, beating out powerhouse Columbia and finishing just three spots behind 24^th-ranked and Ivy favorite Princeton.

“Seeing how close we are to the Ivy League teams is pretty exciting for us,” Geiken said. “If we’re able to have a good day [at Heps], we can make a run at the Heps title.”

On the women’s side, seniors Molly Renfer and Whitney Thornburg, along with co-captain Alaina Alvarez, paced the team with finishes of 21:30, 21:39, and 21:41, respectively, on the 6k course. They were followed by freshman Courtney Smith and sophomore Sarah Gillespie with times of 21:50 and 22:13, giving the team a combined 798 points to place 34^th in a field of 38.

While neither side had standout performances, Saretsky believes the team is still built for competitive success come Heps.

“It wasn’t necessarily their best day,” Saretsky said. “I think they competed well but there’s still definitely more to come…. [This experience] will only help them fuel their fire and get them excited.”

The races were won by Syracuse on the men’s side and Michigan State on the women’s side. Maksim Korolev ’14, who is using his fifth year of eligibility to compete for Stanford after graduating from Harvard, captured the men’s individual title.

—Staff writer Julio Fierro can be reached at jfierro01@college.harvard.edu.