Harvard Men

The Harvard men ran below their expectations Friday to finish behind the rest of the Ivy League.

Martin, who, along with junior captain Ed Baker, has led Harvard this season, ran tremendously. His sixth-place finish, which earned him, like Helms, an All-Ivy League spot, was Harvard's only top-25 individual finish.

Martin benefited from seeing Helms do so well in her race, which took place right before his. Martin and Helms both rely on maintaining position near the back of the front pack of runners for most of the race and then moving up to the very front late in a race.

"Bethany Helms had a great performance, and actually gave me a lot of confidence going into my race," Martin said. "Seeing her run successfully calmed me down a lot before my race and got me focused… there was no way I could let her show me up!"

Baker, who had taken much of the previous week off from training due to calf problems, placed 30th at 26:07.6. He has consistently finished up near Martin in races this season, so this was a slow race for Baker.

Sophomore John Friedman (49th, 26:39.3) and freshman Nathan Shenk-Borig (50th, 26:45.2) were the next Harvard finishers.

In the next two weeks, with NCAA Regionals in sight, Harvard will be focusing on getting its second, third and fourth runners closer to Martin.