Nation’s Best Cross Country Runner Tam Gavenas Commits to Harvard

Tam Gavenas, the number one cross country runner in the U.S., committed to run with Harvard’s Track and Field and Cross Country teams starting in the Fall of 2025, he announced on Wednesday.

Gavenas, a five-foot-seven senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., claimed first place at Foot Locker Nationals — one of two high school national cross country championships — in the 5k with a 15:23.90 race and third the year prior.

His commitment comes less than a month after Harvard’s men’s cross country team placed 27th at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship.

After sitting out of competition in October as the result of a persistent heel injury, Gavenas bounced back in early November at the New England Preparatory School Track Association Division I Cross Country Championships and claimed victory with a personal best of 15:01.

Gavenas went on to place second at Foot Locker Regionals and secured himself a spot at the national championship.

Gavenas was named the 2024 COROS Cross Country Athlete of the Year on Saturday following his rebounding senior season. He was also awarded the Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Cross Country Player of the Year last year after a season that included a 15:06 performance that earned him second place at the NEPSTA Championships.

Gavenas will join Harvard’s team in its first season without Olympian Graham Blanks, the two time NCAA champion who recently became the first runner in the Ivy League to run a 5k in under 13 minutes.

With the team’s next highest finisher at NCAA Championships this year placing 57th, Gavenas has the opportunity to fill Blanks’ shoes for the Crimson and continue a strong run for Harvard’s track and cross country teams.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.