Track and Field Posts Record-Setting Performances Over Weekend

It was a day for the record books for the Harvard track and field team, with a flurry of school and league records falling after strong performances by the Crimson.

The team split up and competed in two separate meets on Saturday, with most of the distance runners, middle distance runners, and jumpers heading to nearby Boston University for the Valentine’s Invitational. Meanwhile, sprinters and throwers competed at the Collegiate Invitational in Armory, New York.

BU VALENTINE'S INVITATIONAL

Senior distance runner Maksim Korolev had one of the strongest showings of the weekend when he beat the school record for the 3K—previously set in 1997—by nearly six seconds with a time of 7:51.52. His 3000-meter performance on Saturday was the third-fastest time in the country this season and set a new Ivy League record.

However, Korolev wasn’t the only Harvard runner having a history-making meet at the Valentine Invitational, as senior James Leakos, sophomore Tom Purnell, and junior Molly Renfer all contributed performances that put them in the top-five in Harvard history.

Leakos took first place in the 5K race with a time of 13:51.22, the second-fastest time in Crimson history. Purnell claimed the fourth spot in Harvard’s record books in the mile with a time of 4:03.26, while Renfer claimed the second-fastest time in Crimson history on the women’s side with a mark of 4:30.35 in the mile event.

“With our sport, it’s really a long-term proposition,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, or [in] one week, or something like that. It’s been very much in the making for a long time now. It’s a combination of [having] some tremendously talented student-athletes, but also I think probably the biggest variable is just how hard they’ve been working and how dedicated they’ve been for an extended period of time.”

In addition, the women’s distance medley team claimed first place with a time of 11:47.92.

“The competition in the DMR wasn’t too bad” Renfer said. “I had the lead leg so I got out quite hard, and then we had a pretty big gap most of the time, so we just had to use our own strength to push through. It wasn’t too contested, but we all ran well so that was good.”

COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL

While some of the Crimson competed in Boston, the rest of the squad took on over 100 schools at the Collegiate Invitational in Armory, New York. Harvard had a strong performance in the event, with multiple runners setting school records and personal bests.

The women’s 4x400 relay team—composed of freshman Jade Miller, sophomore Autumne Franklin, freshman Jackie Modesett and junior Gabrielle Scott—took fourth in the event while setting a new school record. In the anchor position, Scott had the fastest split time of the group, finishing her portion of the race in 53.5 seconds. As a whole, the team finished in 3:39.49.

In the throwing events, freshman Nikki Okwelogu was another bright spot for the Crimson, as she contributed a season-best throw in the shot put of 14.82 meters. The freshman has had strong performances all year, winning the event last weekend at the Harvard Invitational as well as at the Battle of Beantown meet just a few weeks prior.

The entire Crimson squad will come back together next weekend to compete in New Haven against Yale and Princeton in the annual HYP meet.

“There’s a lot of momentum right now in the program, and we’re excited to see that continue,” Saretsky said.

-Staff writer Theresa C. Hebert can be reached at thebert@college.harvard.edu.