Leakos and Korolev stated that they continue to train independently during the season, aside from long runs, which they try to limit because of the extent to which they push each other.
“We’re pretty sure that one day we might have done a 2:20 marathon pace for one of our 20-mile long runs,” Korolev said.
But the disparity of training styles has not prevented either Korolev or Leakos from turning in the best season of his career.
Leakos started off the season strong with a victory at the annual Harvard-Yale meet with an 8k time of 23:32, taking the title for the second time in his career.
Leakos also won the Paul Short Invitational, which he called his “breakout race.” He ran the second-fastest time in course history with a time of 23:13, at an average mile pace of 4:41.
Korolev brought his A-game to the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational, ranking second out of 288 runners with an impressive time of 23:14, just two seconds shy of winner Kemoy Cambell of Arkansas.
Korolev continued to dominate the competition at the Heptagonal Championships on Nov. 2nd at Princeton, earning a time of 23:28, an individual title, and a conference-record in the 8k.
The co-captains’ individual successes have also helped to propel the team as a whole. At the Harvard-Yale Invitational, the Crimson defeated Yale, 15-42. The squad took fourth place out of 47 teams at the Paul Short Invitational, 13th out of 35 at Wisconsin, and fourth place at Heps.
“There are a bunch of people that are stepping up thanks to the leadership of James and Maks,” Gompers said. “I think that the men’s team, being nationally ranked, has a tremendous shot at qualifying for Nationals for the first time in over 30 years.”
Next up for the Crimson is the NCAA Northeast Regionals next Saturday. If Harvard hopes to advance to Nationals, it will need a strong performance across the board.
But at the moment, Leakos is fighting a leg injury. Inflamed tendons relegated him to the sidelines at Heps and have made it hard for him to run, forcing him to “sweat it out in the pool” as an alternative to running. He stated that, regardless of the pain, he would not sit out of Regionals and that he’s recovering.
“It’s just been miserable. But today, I was able to walk down the stairs normally,” Leakos joked.
Korolev and Leakos have set high expectations for themselves and for the team coming into the final stretch of the season.
“I’m certainly hopeful that Maks or James can beat my fifth-place finish at Nationals in cross country and I hope both of them go well under that 10k record,” Gompers said. “I don’t think any other team in the country has two guys as good as Maks and James. A lot of teams have one good guy, but to have two guys as good as Maks and James is very special.”
—Staff writer Dominic A. Martinez can be reached at dominic.martinez@thecrimson.com