On the first weekend of Spring Break, select athletes from the Harvard men’s and women’s Track and Field teams took a trip down to warmer climates to escape the gloomy dampness of Boston.

Unfortunately for them, they did not quite get to relax on the beach like most Harvard students.

The athletes traveled down to Texas to compete in the Bayou Classic at Rice University to see how they matched up with unfamiliar competition.

While the women finished the weekend eighth out of 12 teams with 41 points, the men placed seventh out of eight with 47 points. The winning teams—who have had the benefit of a few weeks of practice outdoors—were Rice and Texas State for the women and men, respectively.

“Overall the trip was a success. We were able to get that first outdoor meet under our belts and a solid week of training,” senior Adam Gelardi said.

Next weekend, the teams will compete in Providence in a tri-meet against Ivy League competitors Brown and Dartmouth.

MEN

Senior James Albertine was one of the few male runners who ran two races for the meet, and almost scored twice for the small Harvard team.

In the 800m run, he finished ninth, just over .7 seconds out of scoring position and two places behind junior Arthur Baum, who picked up two points for the Crimson with his time of 2:00.23, just barely missing getting under the two-minute mark.

In the 1500m, Albertine placed fifth, just behind Steve Magness of Rice—who registered the fastest high school mile time in the country last year by running it in 4:01. Albertine came through the finish line at 3:59.10—on pace for a personal record in the mile, which is only 100m longer.

Freshman Jonathan Paul—one of a number of first year standouts during the cross country and indoor season—also scored points for the Crimson by placing right behind Albertine in sixth at a time of 4:01.22.

The other two freshmen runners whom the Crimson took down to Texas were Sean Barrett—who is finally close to full health and placed an impressive second in the 5000m run (15:42.36)—and Devin Lyons-Quirk—whose time of 9:58.75 earned him fifth in the 3000m steeplechase.

The size of the team the Crimson brought down to Rice was also hampered by a number of still nagging injuries—especially to junior Alasdair McLean-Foreman and freshman Connor Wilson.

“They are in the process of recovering and are expected to continue to perform well into the outdoor season and will definitely contribute heavily to the success of our team as a whole,” Albertine said.

Due to these issues with injury and the limited numbers that the Crimson usually sends to the meet, the full extent of Harvard’s abilities going into the new season is still an unknown.