COLONIAL RELAYS

For the third meet, Chenoweth and the other Crimson runners hit the road Thursday through Saturday for the Colonial Relays at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where they gained valuable experience for tougher matchups down the road. “I was pretty pleased with how our distance runners performed this past weekend,” Saretsky said. “I know that it’s still early in the season, but I think that their best performances are still ahead of them.”

But a better performance may be hard for some. In what Saretsky called “stand-out” performances, senior Claire Richardson nailed down a third-place finish in the 5K, and Chenoweth won on the men’s side. Co-captain Brian Hill also nabbed a No. 2 finish in the 800 meters.

Yet to Chenoweth, more important than winning was the team’s experience.

“Getting good outdoor racing experience helps us all acclimate to the conditions for the rest of the season,” the Illinois native explained.

The qualifying marks also continued to roll in for Harvard.

The 4x800 team of sophomore Jeffrey Homer, juniors Darcy Wilson and Brian Paison, and Hill finished just behind Virginia Tech with an IC4A-worthy time of 7:38.19.

On the women’s side, senior Hilary May, freshman Natalia Paine, junior Meghan Looney, and rookie Alaina Murphy captured fourth place in the relay thanks to May’s powerful opening leg. The mark was good enough for yet another ECAC qualification.

—Staff writer Molly E. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@college.harvard.edu.