It was a tale of two teams for Harvard cross country Friday at the New England Championships. While the men’s team improved only one spot from last year, the women’s team skyrocketed to a third-place finish Friday on the strength of freshman Lindsey Scherf’s first collegiate victory.

The Harvard men finished 13th on the day with 346 points while sitting two of its most experienced runners in order to prepare for the upcoming Pre-Nationals meet. Providence took home the championship with just 25 points after sweeping the top three spots.

With Scherf’s victory, the Crimson women placed behind Boston University and just 16 points behind Brown.

“We’re also very excited for what our upcoming races hold for us,” captain Danila Musante said. “We have just kept getting better, and I think we have yet to see our full potential as a team.”

MEN

The Crimson’s best finish on the day came from sophomore Sean Barrett—who crossed the line in 22nd with a time of 25:22. Barrett’s per mile time was 5:09 and just 10 seconds behind that of race winner Martin Fagan of Providence.

Freshman Christopher Green was the Crimson’s second-best scorer on the day—finishing the race in 58th with a time of 25:59.

Sophomore Kevin Lyons and freshman Andrew Lipkin also placed for Harvard in 68th and 105th, respectively.

“The high number of freshmen and sophomore scorers this weekend, as you noticed, does bode well for the future of the program,” captain Reed Bienvenu said. “We will be graduating a large group of seniors this year, but there are going to be plenty of talented young runners to take our places.”

Bienvenu—along with senior Alasdair McLean-Foreman—did not compete on Friday in order to rest for Pre-Nationals and the Heptagonal championship. Last year, both runners also sat out this meet for the same reason.

On Friday, Harvard did beat out league rival Yale to whom it had lost in a dual meet only last week. Harvard believes that its success without its two top competitors is a sign that they can compete this year.

“The younger guys aren’t going to wait a few years to start seeing success, because we have the talent to make a big impact in the league this year,” Bienvenu said.

The Crimson will find out just how much of an impact once Heptagonals arrives and Harvard competes against the entire Ivy League.

WOMEN

After placing 16th at the meet last year, Harvard not only improved to third, but took home the individual victory by Scherf. Although Scherf’s talent going into the race was undeniable, the victory still came as a surprise to her and her teammates.