Women
On the women’s side, the story was almost the same.
The Crimson only finished second or third at best in any field or sprinting event—outside of the sweep of the top three spots in the weight throw by seniors Johanna Doyle and BreeAnna Gibson and freshman Shawna Strayhorn.
Nevertheless, the team was able to stay within striking distance of the Huskies because of strong performances by its core of upperclassmen in the long and mid-distance runs.
Junior Rosalinda Castaneda had the best day by winning the 3000m in 10:38.65 and placing third in the mile. Her 3000m race came amongst zealous and physical competition from the Northeastern runners.
“She had a rough time in the mile because she was boxed in at the beginning,” said sophomore Laura Maludzinski. “And the Northeastern girls were pretty nasty. Whenever she would try to make a move to pass, they would speed up and move out so that she couldn’t get by them. One even elbowed her off the track at one point in the race.”
The strong double comes following a switch this year from longer distances to events for which her training is shorter and faster workouts.
“The mile/3k double is one that people normally try to avoid, because they’re the two longest races in the meet,” said senior Beverly Whelan. “[Castaneda] was very excited about doing it. She said the 3k felt easy, which is probably because she’s now used to running a lot faster around the track.”
Whelan posted a strong double herself against Northeastern, winning the 800m in 2:19.39 and anchoring the first place 4x800m relay team which also included seniors Virginia Scott and Jennifer Lee and sophomore Laura Maludzinski.
“The race’s speed felt uncomfortable at first because I haven’t done any speed training yet this year, as our workouts have been geared towards the mile,” Whelan said. “I think I ran better in the relay because it was my second 800 of the day so the beginning wasn’t as much of a shock.”
Maludzinski also posted a 5:10.69 to win the mile and complete her own strong performance on the day. Nevertheless, her time was still 20 seconds off of her personal record for the race.
“There’s still a ways to go before the end of the season,” Maludzinski said. “But we knew going into the race that Northeastern didn’t have really strong milers, so there really wasn’t a need to push the pace too much.”
But the upcoming meets for the Harvard team will include stiffer long distance competition for both the men and the women as it faces Ivy League rivals later in the month.
—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.