Considering this past weekend’s results, it might be fitting to dub the second-year members of the Harvard track teams “sophomore studs.”

Two of the weekend’s few bright spots were victories from sophomores Laura Maludzinski and Samyr Laine—with classmate Lawrence Adjah registering second place right behind Laine—as the Crimson came home from Heptagonals with dual eighth-place finishes.

On the men’s side, the team built off of its one-two sophomore sweep of the triple jump to charge on the second day, but finished with 29 points.

The women’s team fared a little better, finishing the two-day meet with 32 points.

“All in all, in was a tough weekend,” senior James Albertine said. “I know everyone’s disappointed about the way both teams ended up overall, however, there were quite a few personal bests and good performances to write home about.”

The two Crimson Heptagonal champions—Maludzinski and Laine—picked up their victories in the 1,500 meter race and the triple jump, respectively.

In contrast to the sophomores who will be back to defend their crowns next year, for the seniors the meet was not only the last of the season, but the last of their careers.

“Throughout my time at Harvard I spent at least two hours a day with the team, and I will for sure miss it,” senior Sandra Venghaus said.

In the overall team competition, Cornell ran away with both championships, racking up 137 points in the women’s side of the competition and 155 in the men’s events.

WOMEN

Harvard’s most exciting performance of the entire meet came hand-in-hand with its best as well. Maludzinski showed that her bright future is already here as she won the 1,500 meter race by less than a hair’s breadth. Co-captain Beverly Whelan finished 3.5 seconds behind in sixth.

In the race that the Crimson has shown consistent strength in all year, Maludzinski (4:29.03) finished just a hundredth of a second ahead of Yale’s Ashley Campbell—who gave one last effort down the final straightaway to make the race as tight as it was.

“It was what they call a ‘kicker’s race’ and she ran it perfectly,” Whelan said. “Laura and I were boxed with 300 meters to go, and she made a gutsy move and passed the field in the third lane.”

Although Laura’s time left her under a half a second away from the time she needed to run in order to qualify for the NCAA regional meet, by winning the championship for the conference she will get an automatic bid.

The 3,000-meter race was another event in which Harvard put up some of its best efforts of the season, with senior Mairead O’Callaghan and junior Celene Menschel running their personal bests.