Seniors, Okwelogu Set Records in Track and Field's Strong Heps Performance

­Last weekend was a big one for the Harvard men and women’s track and field teams, as the women provided a performance to remember, taking home a third straight Ivy League title, while the men gritted out a fifth-place finish at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.

The competition proved to be fruitful for various individual Crimson athletes as well, as several took the stage by storm and left their respective marks on the meet.

Competing in their last rendition of the Ancient Eight Championships, multiple Harvard seniors went out triumphant, claiming gold in their individual events.

Among those seniors was men’s co-captain Jarvis Harris. The Ama, La., native won the 60-meter hurdle race with a 7.94 second finish, just a day after running a school-record 7.93 during the preliminaries.

The senior had broken the Crimson record once this season, a feat almost two years in the making. After first claiming the record as a sophomore, Harris was unable to improve the record as a junior.

Coming back from an injury this past November, the senior opened his last indoor season by breaking the record, a feat which he attributes to technical improvements on his race.

“One part of my race which has got significantly better is my start,” Harris said. “Doing some readjustments…I was able to find the perfect set up to push out very well and get me into the race.”

Harris wasn’t the only Harvard senior to shine, as classmate Danielle Barbian ended her indoor career on a high note as well. Competing in front of family and friends sporting “Team Barbian” apparel, the Sussex, Wis., native didn’t disappoint.

The success started in the preliminaries, where the senior broke her own meet record with a 7.43 second mark in the 60-meter dash. The next day, Barbian improved on that performance, claiming the title by breaking her Ivy League record with a 7.40 performance. The day, however, didn’t end there for the senior.

Barbian continued in the 200-meter race, where the senior sprinted to a 24.03 second finish in the first finals heat, establishing herself as the leader before being forced to play the waiting game for one more heat.

Ultimately, Columbia’s Ashley Cunningham fell short of catching Barbian, clocking in at 24.09 in the second heat. The result handed the Harvard sprinter her second title of the day.The result was a surprise to the senior, who before this year had struggled with the race, and helped her ultimately take home the Track Athlete of the Meet award.

“I was definitely shocked,” Barbian said. “I got to about 150 meters—that’s normally when you feel the girls—and I didn’t feel any of them. I [thought] ‘wow, this is happening.’”

The accolades were not just limited to sprinters, as women’s co-captain Erika Veidis helped clinch the women’s title with her performances in the 80-meter run and 4 x 880-yard relay.

Despite injuries which had left her out of the HYP Meet two weeks prior, the senior competed in the 800-meter run, one of the most anticipated events of the meet, as Veidis and Princeton’s Cecilia Barowski both came in ranked in the top 30 in the nation.

The race proved to be a tight one, with Veidis falling just short, placing second with a time of 2 minutes, 7.53 seconds, less than a second behind Barowski. While Barowski took home the crown in the 800, Veidis would end up with the last laugh.

Both competitors competed in the 4 x 880-yard relay, but Veidis was the one standing on top of the podium with her teammates. She ran the third leg of the relay in a time of 2:10.97, the fastest time of the 32 competitors, including Barowski. The race ultimately clinched the title for Harvard, with the Sparta, N.J., native contributing 18 points for the Crimson.

With the indoor season behind her, Veidis hopes to return to full health in preparation for the outdoor season and the future.

“I want to be able to race for the win regardless of how the race plays out,” Veidis said. “I want to get really strong this outdoor [season].... Hopefully, that will bode well for next year, because I hope to continue running.”

The seniors weren’t the only ones with outstanding performances.  Sophomore Nikki Okwelogu continued to stake her claim as the best shot putter in Ivy League history, winning the event with an Ancient Eight-record 17.12 meter throw.

The mark was the first throw over 17 meters in conference history and placed the Fresno, Calif., native at ninth in the nation, putting her in prime position to contend at  NCAA nationals later in the season. The sophomore was awarded the Field Athlete of the Meet award.

Okwelogu has had a season to remember, placing as the highest collegiate competitor in all six competitions she has partaken in this season while rewriting the Ivy record books three weeks in a row.

The sophomore is confident that she can improve even further on what she’s accomplished.

“I’ve been having really good practices, really consistent,” Okwelogu said. “If I can hold it, keep my health and routine up, there’s no reason I can’t do it again.”

With Heps now behind them, the Harvard athletes now turn to the IC4A Championships, NCAA Nationals, and the outdoor season, hoping to leave their mark on those competitions as well. However, there is little doubt that the special performances of these individuals made the competition a memorable one for the Crimson.

—Staff writer Julio Fierro can be reached at julio.fierro@thecrimson.com.