The freshman's performance on the season was not entirely expected either, but his running was so outstanding it earned him all-Ivy status and the Mikkola Award for the most improved Harvard runner.

After a respectable fifth place finish against Northeastern in his opening race, Fitzsimmons launched a steady improvement of his times throughout the rest of the year.

He placed fifth versus Providence-UMass, fourth against Penn-Columbia, first against Brown, fourth in the Greater Boston meet, fourth against Yale-Princeton, first against Dartmouth, sixth at the Heptagonal tournament and 30th at the IC4A tournament.

But there is more to Pete Fitzsimmons the runner than just a list of accomplishments. "He has a splendid attitude, he likes to run, and he is oriented to working hard and steady," McCurdy says. "But even more, he's a great competitor."

Team captain Okerman sees Fitzsimmons as more than just "our best runner." "He was the type of guy who came down every day of the week and worked hard, leading by example," Okerman asserts. "He tried as hard as he could every race, and every practice."

So what comes next for the dedicated and accomplished Fitzsimmons? Well, the indoor track team faces BU a week from today, and you can bet that Fitzsimmons, who has not broken training, will be running in the mile and two-mile events.

Comparing indoor track to cross country, Pete feels "it's faster, [and] maybe because I have more endurance than speed, the faster stuff is a little harder." In a typical Fitzsimmons understatement, he adds, "I haven't decided whether I'm fast or not yet."

The question is not whether or not Pete Fitzsimmons is fast, but just how fast he may get in the future