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Track Closes Indoor Season with School Records

Not a Week Link
Michael E. Danto

Rookie Olivia Weeks put up another strong showing in her final indoor meet, finishing third in the triple jump at ECAC’s this weekend. Weeks had the highest individual finish for the Crimson, leaping 12.21 meters.

Riding the momentum of its team performance at the Ivy League Championships a week ago, the Harvard track and field team sent athletes to three different meets this weekend, notching a number of standout finishes.

After months of posting qualifying times for IC4As and ECACs, the Crimson split up, with the men heading to the BU Track and Tennis center for IC4As and the women taking on the ECAC field at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.

“Overall for the team, the Ivy League championships are a bigger focal point,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “When you get into that next level of competition...we just try to make the most of a great opportunity.”

The Crimson competitors did just that, breaking a pair of school records and winning an IC4A relay among some of the most talented teams in the region.

“It was a good way to close the season and get some good performances in,” women’s captain Thea Lee said. “We were happy to end on a good note.”

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ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The women did not have to travel far to take on a number of unfamiliar competitors during the ECAC championships Saturday and yesterday. The women finished 16th in a field in which 51 teams scored, riding the strong performances of a pair of freshmen and a relay team.

Rookie Sydnie Leroy earned seventh in the pole vault with a mark of 3.55 meters, while classmate Olivia Weeks posted the top individual finish, taking third in the triple jump after a leap of 12.21 meters.

“Olivia had a little trouble getting to the board, but when she hit it, she hit it well,” Saretsky said. “She had the biggest jump of her collegiate career.”

Sophomore Nicole Cochran also had a strong performance in the mile, taking fourth place after a disappointing showing at Heptagonals.

“[Cochran] is the type of athlete that runs her best at championship time,” Saretsky said. “She made a tactical mistake that cost her points [at Heps], so it was great to see her bounce back and place as high as she did.”

But perhaps the strongest effort came from a group of Harvard women, as Lee, junior Claire Richardson, and freshmen Carlyle Davis and Melissa Bellin broke the school record in the distance medley relay en route to a third-place finish. The four Crimson runners crossed the line in a cumulative 11:34.03.

“We were really excited,” Lee said. “We all ran the best leg that we possibly could, so it was a really good showing.”

IC4A CHAMPIONSHIPS

Not to be outdone, the men’s squad enjoyed success of its own at IC4As Saturday and yesterday. The distance medley again proved to be Harvard’s greatest strength, as six runners contributed to the event. After sophomores Darcy Wilson and Brian Paison and rookies Jeff Homer and Jeremy Gilmour posted the fastest preliminary time in the relay, juniors Brian Hill and Dan Chenoweth stepped in to replace the second-years, boosting the team to a first-place finish in the finals—just seconds off the Crimson record. The time of 9:52.66 gave the Harvard men the victory by nearly three seconds.

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