Hampton, Meyer Impress on Multiple Teams

For most athletes, it’s hard enough to balance academics, in and off season training, and the other commitments that go along with being on a team. But for sophomore two-sport athletes Ian Meyer and Rachel Hampton, their obligations go beyond what is expected of most student-athletes.

Meyer and Hampton are in season year round. In the winter, the pair ski on Harvard’s Nordic team. Off the snow, Meyer rows lightweight crew, and Hampton runs both cross country and spring track.

Coming from a high school that required students to play three seasons of sports, Meyer was used to competing at high levels in multiple sports. Before Harvard, Meyer rowed on two NEIRA champion teams. He was also a five-time all-state skier, winning his team’s MVP award three times and placing third in the New England Regional Championship.

Ian Meyer By Courtesy of Christopher City

Similarly, Hampton, a Colorado native, had excelled in athletics years before coming to college. She was a national level junior skier and won multiple state championship races for both cross country and track and field. She was voted to all-state and all-conference teams, and was named the San Juan Conference Athlete of the Year for track.

Despite Meyer and Hampton’s numerous accolades in both of their sports, both committed to Harvard for only one sport. Meyer was initially recruited for crew, but walked onto the ski team. Hampton, a Nordic ski recruit, joined the track team her freshman spring.

“When it was time to look at colleges, one of the reasons I wanted to come to Harvard was because the coaches were very flexible and would allow me to do both [sports],” Hampton said. “I didn’t want to give up either one. I love them both, so we made it work.”

At Harvard, Meyer and Hampton have continued to excel in both sports. Both participated in the NCAA regional championships for skiing. Hampton was a top-three Harvard finisher in multiple cross country invitationals this year. In his first crew season, Meyer rowed in the first freshman boat, which came in second at EARC sprints.

At the end of each competition, Meyer and Hampton are already looking forward to the next one.

“Always being in racing season means always having an immediate motivation,” Meyer said. “It’d be really hard to motivate myself spending that much time in the offseason, when the joys of racing [would be] six or more months away.”

Another factor that eases the burden of playing two sports is the nature of the sports in which Meyer and Hampton participate. Rowing, running, and skiing are all aerobic sports, and enable the athletes to come into each new season with only minimal catch-up.

Sophomore Rachel Hampton raced to a 14th-place finish in the 20K in 15K events. By Courtesy of Christopher City

Even so, the aerobic base established in each season cannot completely fill the void of sports-specific training, especially for the technical sport of skiing. Nordic ski coach Chris City has combatted this by giving Meyer and Hampton extra or substitute workouts for the fall and spring seasons.

“We make sure that they have a variety of sports-specific things to do [for both their sports] so that they’re ready to hit their fall sport when they come in, but also to set good foundations for what we need to do in the winter,” City said.

But balancing training and competition over three sports seasons is easy compared to maintaining a place in the team dynamic. The hardest hits come from missing team dinners, weekend get-togethers, and off-season events.

Hampton tackled this challenge by easing into her freshman year and not running cross country in the fall so that she could get to know the ski team better. Come spring, she joined the track team, and easily found a spot in both communities.

“You have to prioritize,” Hampton said. “You have to make the extra time to see the people [on the team that isn’t in season] and keep your place on that team and stay a part of that atmosphere.”

Meyer considers both of his team communities “irreplaceable” aspects of his college life. Switching from the 40-person men’s lightweight crew team to the 15-person coed Nordic ski team provides him with social variety.

“They’re both awesome environments but really different,” Meyer said. “That yin and yang works really well for me in terms of the social world.”

With all the physical, academic, and social challenges that come with playing a varsity college sport, why would anyone choose to play two? For Hampton, this answer is easy.

“I’ve always known that athletics are one of my favorite things in life,” Hampton said. “The sacrifices are worth it to me because I’ve gotten such a community out of it and I’ve gotten such amazing experiences from it. I really love it.”

—Staff writer Isabel Delaura can be reached at idelaura@college.harvard.edu.