“Towards the end, with injuries, our performance took a hit,” Ives said. “We definitely had the strength to have a really awesome end of the season, and that just didn’t happen.”
Still, Ives said she was proud of the season that she and her teammates were able to put together.
The senior is a member of Saretsky’s first class of recruits at Harvard, and she has noticed positive changes in the cross country program with him at the helm.
“He basically took a program that was struggling and wasn’t the best in recruiting and turned that around,” Ives said. “The fact that we were nationally recognized my senior year is something that I’m sure he couldn’t have dreamed of.”
Saretsky hopes that the program will keep making strides next season, and with Korolev, Ruegg, and Wanatabe all returning, he is optimistic for the road ahead.
“Our goal is to continue to progress,” Saretsky said. “Both of the teams have a lot of talent, so it should be a really exciting season for us.”
—Staff writer Dominic Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.