By winning the high jump at the Texas Southern Relays with a leap of 1.78 meters, freshman Becky Christensen, shown here in earlier action, provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in June. Senior Julia Pederson provisionally qualified for NCAAs

Spring break may have meant a break from class, but it also meant that the Harvard track teams had plenty to do. The teams spent the week in Texas, competing at the Texas Southern Relays on March 23 and 24 and the Victor Lopez Bayou Classic at Rice this past weekend. The events were the Crimson’s first of the outdoor season, and the team got a critical training week in better weather.

“It’s a really important week,” junior Christopher Green said. “Just having a week out of the classroom, where you’re in a nice environment with warm weather where you get to focus on training twice a day just helps you prepare.”

“We’re out on that track from anywhere between four and seven hours a day,” women’s co-captain Julia Pederson said. “If you train hard and properly it can really make your season.”

VICTOR LOPEZ BAYOU CLASSIC

Neither the men’s or women’s teams managed an individual winner against a deep field, but there were plenty of strong performances at Rice’s Victor Lopez Bayou Classic.

Sophomore Elissa Reidy led the way on the women’s side, placing second in the long jump with a leap of 5.36 meters. Sophomore Shannon Flahive finished fifth in the event with a 5.31-meter jump. Classmate Becky Christensen placed third in the high jump after clearing the bar at 1.75 meters. The Crimson’s success on the field also included a fifth-place finish in the pole vault from junior Clara Blattler.

The javelin, an event not included in the indoor season, quickly showed itself to be an area of strength for Harvard. Freshman Eda Karesin finished third after a 43.20-meter throw and Pederson was fourth with a 41.72-meter hurl.

“Right now we have three of the top six throwers in the Ivy League,” Pederson said. “It’s just nice when you have friendly training competition. It really keeps everybody on their toes.”

The runners fared well, but high finishes were hard to come by after a tough week of practice. Sophomore Aishlinn O’Callaghan, running the 800 meters for the first time all season, took fifth with a time of 2:13.13, a mere .56 seconds ahead of sophomore Jan Ng, who finished seventh.

“It’s really hard to perform well at the second meet because your body’s so tired from all the training,” Pederson said. “For the distance group, especially, it’s a brutal practice.”

Other strong finishers included junior Lauren Walker, who was sixth in the 1,500 meters, and junior Sarah Bourne, who finished sixth in the 5,000 meters.

Harvard men, meanwhile, dominated the hammer throw event, as freshman Neville Irani took second with a 49.57-meter throw, senior Chris Ayers landed in third after a 46.80-meter toss, and senior Matt Niemczak finished sixth with a 45.37-meter heave. Niemczak added a sixth-place finish in the javelin as well.

Junior Brian Holmquest posted a runner-up finish in the 5,000 meters, freshman Alex Lewis was second in the long jump after jumping 6.64 meters, and senior Tim Galebach finished third in the 1,500 meters.

TEXAS SOUTHERN RELAYS

Three winners on the women’s side paced a strong Crimson performance in Houston, with two of those winners provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships in June.

Christensen, fresh off an indoor season in which she provisionally qualified for nationals but was not selected, wasted no time in earning her outdoor provisional qualification. She won the high jump with a leap of 1.78 meters.

Pederson also provisionally qualified for NCAAs in the javelin with a 45.09-meter throw that was good enough for first in the event, and broke her own school record in the event on her very first throw of the outdoor campaign.

“Throwing that well was a nice surprise,” Pederson said.

Harvard went 1-2 in the javelin after Karesin took second with a heave of 42.46 meters.

Bourne was Harvard’s other female winner, capturing the 5,000 meters in a time of 18:27.30.

The Crimson also cleaned up in the pole vault event as the trio of Blattler, junior Jitka Tomas, and junior Sally Stanton took second, third, and fourth, respectively. Tomas showed her versatility by taking third in the long jump as well, hitting the sand after a 5.77-meter jump.

The women’s 4x800 meter relay team also finished strong, taking third with a time of 9:41.36.

On the men’s side, Holmquest was the team’s lone winner after running a 15:10.27 in the 5,000 meters. Senior Peter Mullen finished third, more than 50 seconds behind.

The javelin was once again good to the Crimson, with Niemczak ending up second after a 48.75-meter heave and junior Alex Lewis taking fifth at 46.90 meters.

Freshman Alex Tremblay finished fourth in the long jump, and junior Alex Obrecht was fifth in the shot put.

—Staff writer Brad Hinshelwood can be reached at bhinshel@fas.harvard.edu.