For the Harvard men’s and women’s cross country teams, one race does not define a season. Still, finishing poorly at the Heptagonal Championships—where the Crimson races for the Ivy League championship—is not the way Harvard would have liked to finish the season.

“This was our most important race of the season,” junior captain Reed Bienvenu said.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, both of its teams finished toward the back of the pack on Friday, with the women placing seventh and the men finishing just a little better in sixth.

Nonetheless, both teams did have their highlights.

Junior Alasdair McLean-Foreman had one of Harvard’s best performances in years, capturing second with a blazing time of 24:44.5. Averaging 4:58.6 per mile over the eight-kilometer (just under five-mile) course, McLean-Foreman ran the best Heptagonal race of any Harvard runner in 17 years and earned First-Team All-Ivy League honors.

Amazingly, his main focus is not even the cross country season.

“I was very happy with the race myself,” McLean-Foreman wrote in an e-mail. “As I’m a middle distance specialist, used to running 800m, 8000m is always pretty tough (especially at Van Cortlandt [Park, where the race was held]) so I’m pleased with the result.…I’m focusing on the track season and this was a nice surprise.”

Even McLean-Foreman’s accomplishment was a little bittersweet in the context of the team’s sixth-place result.

“Of course we are disappointed,” McLean-Foreman wrote. “Sixth place is definitely not the result we were looking for.”

Yet with seven of the 11 Crimson runners who competed running at Heps for the first time and all 11 returning next year, Harvard is optimistic about its future.

“I’m confident we have the talent to win Heps next year,” McLean-Foreman said. “The important thing for us as a team is to recognize we are a lot better than our performances so far this season. If we can build confidence with quality training we definitely have a very good shot at the title next year.”

Brown took home the championship—its first ever—with 60 points, led by fifth-place finisher Jeff Gaudette (24.51.0).

The only man to beat McLean-Foreman was Columbia’s cross country ace Steve Sundell (24:26.9), who took home 10th place two weeks ago at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet.

Other top finishers for the Crimson, which finished with 125 points, included sophomore Timothy Galebach (25:24.2, 15th place) and Bienvenu (25.28.8, 17th).

Harvard’s fifth man was quite a pleasant surprise. Freshman Jonathan Paul took a big stride on Friday, finishing in an impressive 27:01.01.