Track and Field Posts Various Top-10 Finishes

In its third weekend of action this year, the Harvard track and field teams gave a number of stellar performances while competing at the Rod McCravy Invitational and Joe Donahue Games, breaking various personal, school, and conference records.

ROD MCCRAVY INVITATIONAL

Following the Beantown Invite, in which the women’s side came in first and the men placed third, the Crimson traveled to Kentucky for a less competitive event, albeit one which saw several Harvard runners record personal and school bests.

“It was a team meet in the sense that a lot of people went and a lot of people competed, but it wasn’t like a conference meet where you’re firing on all cylinders,” Kouba added.

Freshman Gabby Thomas took home the 200 meters title with a time of 23.44 seconds, a personal best and all-time best in the Harvard and Ivy League record books. The time also represents the best mark for freshman sprinters nationwide and the sixth-fastest in the country overall.

In the 60-meter dash, Thomas, set another personal best while placing sixth overall and recording the second-fastest time in Ivy League history.

“Thomas … came out and kind of annihilated the Ivy League 200 record,” Kouba said. “She’s just really phenomenally talented and is putting in the work to get even better.”

Sophomore Courtney Smith set a career-best in the 3000-meter run, crossing the line in 9:21.35, and winning the race by a comfortable margin of six seconds. Classmate Elianna Shwayder also posted a top-10 finish in the 3000 meters. The Ann Arbor, Mich. native came in eighth place with a time of 9:42.24.

“We’ve seen already through cross country that Courtney is definitely our top distance runner,” senior Emma Payne said.

Setting personal and league records was a theme at the Rod McCravy Memorial for Crimson runners.

In the 600-yard run, junior Jade Miller set a personal record with a time of 1:23.17. Payne finished runner-up in the 5000 meters with a personal best of 17:14.12, over 23 seconds faster than her previous top mark.

In the 4x400 relay, Miller, Thomas, senior Autumne Franklin, and junior Jackie Modesett came third, setting a school record with a time of 3:38.02, good for third-best in Ancient Eight history.

On the men’s side, freshman Myles Marshall set a Harvard indoor 800 meters record in his first collegiate 800-meter run. His time of 1:49.35 qualifies for second-best among freshman sprinters and 10th best in the country.

Sophomore Louis Colson placed fourth in the mile run with a time of 4:14.50. Freshman Kieran Tuntivate finished four spots later in the same event and set a personal best by crossing the line in 4:16.64.

In the field events, the Crimson continued the trend of top-10 finishes. Junior Julian Nunally finished ninth in the shot put with a throw of 16.60 meters. Fellow junior Josh Whitener placed 10th in the weight throw with a distance of 17.22 meters.

A pair of seniors posted top-10 results in the jumps. Spencer Lemons reached 1.94 meters in the high jump, earning the San Luis Obispo, Calif. resident a seventh-place finish. In the triple jump, Malcolm Mason Rodriguez placed sixth with a mark of 14.55 meters.

“There were some performances that were really stellar and some school records broken, and that’s always good to see, especially early in the season,” Captain Paige Kouba said. “There were also some areas that we have to improve on and work on going forward.”

JOE DONAHUE GAMES

Staying closer to home, the Crimson picked up even more top-10 results at the Joe Donahue Games at Northeastern.

On the track, junior Sylvia Deppen led the women with a pair of top-10 results in the 60 meter hurdles and the 200 meter dash with times of 8.86 and 25.54 seconds, respectively. Senior Chris Allen placed fifth in the mile run with a mark of 4:17.25, four seconds faster than his previous best.

In the field events, sophomore Lucia Alexander and junior Haley Baker finished eighth and ninth in the high jump and long jump with marks of 1.61 meters and 5.56 meters respectively. Freshman Nicole Trenchard and senior Lexie Schachne, meanwhile, finished fifth and sixth in the pole jump, respectively.

Freshman Ian West and junior Andrew Roney chipped in with top-10 finishes of their own, clearing marks of 4.80 meters in the pole vault to finish sixth and seventh overall, respectively.

With the results, Harvard track and field appears to already be in good shape looking forward despite it being so early in the season.

“It’s still pretty early in the season, so it’s really exciting to see all these [runners] getting after it,” Payne said.

–Staff writer Jack Stockless can be reached at college.harvard.edu.