The women’s side featured much less drama, but yielded the same satisfaction for the home team and its bus full of spectators.

Coming off of a victory at the Iona Meet of Champions, Harvard looked even stronger with its top runners in the field. Richardson and sophomores Kailyn Kuzmuk and Nicole Cochran took an early lead as a pack and cruised to a finish in the top three spots, with Richardson’s 17:42.34 leading the way. As sophomore Jeanne Mack, Olson, and junior Eliza Ives crossed the line to round out the first six scorers, it became clear how dominant a full-strength Crimson team can be.

“It was great to pick up from last year and get back into it,” said Olson of her first race. “I think we made a pretty big statement about how we hope to perform later on.”

The Harvard women entered the meet as heavy favorites and thus felt less urgency than their male counterparts, but Olson noted that the squad is always fired up for dual meets.

“[Head-to-head competition] makes a huge difference. It’s really personal, especially with Yale,” Olson said. “Instead of you and a mass of people, where the competitors are pretty anonymous, now it’s much more personal whether you win or lose.”

Perhaps this highly competitive atmosphere explains why Harvard continues to challenge the Bulldogs 102 years after the teams’ first contest. Although the schedule has been trimmed from seven Ivy dual meets to one, the Crimson has no plans to stop meeting its longstanding rival.

“We had a big alumni weekend around this race to celebrate the rich history of the rivalry,” Saretsky explained. “And it was great to hear stories about this rich history and all of the past dual meets.”

While the competition has featured back and forth results for the squads in the past, the Crimson has now claimed victory for three straight years. And it appears that Harvard still has a lesson or two to teach its old foe.

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.