“The race was incredibly daunting at first,” Veidis said. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh my gosh, are you going to be able to run these two laps?’ I hadn’t run an 800 since January, and I’m dealing with minor injuries…so I wasn’t expecting all that much. I really surprised myself.”

The invitational was hosted by North Florida University. Harvard will return to the venue later in the season for nationals.

TUFTS SNOWFLAKE CLASSIC

While their teammates were soaking up the sun and competing against a few of the nation’s perennial track and field powerhouses, some members of the track and field squad remained in chilly Massachusetts to take on some regional competition.

The Crimson flexed its muscle against the meet’s weaker field, tallying up a number of event wins.

Senior John Dingus topped the competition in the 400m dash, cruising to victory with a time of 50.28 seconds.

“John’s a great competitor,” Saretsky said. “He’s in great shape, and I think he has more success ahead of him. As season progresses and he gets in more competitions, I think we’re going to see his times drop even lower.”

For the Harvard women, the distance runners showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with down the stretch this season. Sophomore Morgan Kelly, freshman Viviana Hanley, and senior Kirsten Jorgensen took the top three places, respectively, in the 5000m run. Kelly’s time of 17:28.53 earned her the event win, with Hanley less than a second behind her.

“I think [the weekend] went really well for us,” Saretsky said. “We had a number of outstanding performances. There’s a bit of an extra challenge when you’re competing in two places, but I was very pleased with how our student-athletes went out and competed.”

—Staff writer Dominic A. Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.