Looking to wrap up a prolific season, a program-best seven members of the Harvard Track and Field team traveled to Eugene, Or. to compete against the best of the nation in the NCAA National Outdoor Championships. 

While the competition proved to be as rigorous as advertised, the young team provided a competitive effort while gaining invaluable experience and picking up a few honors in a successful end of the season.

“[The success] is indicative of how far the program has gone and the direction that it’s going,” triple jumper Efe Uwaifo said. “Many of us are [underclassmen]…. It just shows that we’re going to be here, and there are many other in the pipeline who are going to be fighting for spots here.”

The team got started early on Wednesday, with junior Erika Veidis competing in the semifinals of the women’s 800 meters. Veidis clocked in with a time of 2:06.03, placing 16th in the field, just over a second off from qualifying to the finals.

The junior was joined that same day by her fellow female team members as sophomore Autumne Franklin and freshman Jade Miller competed in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

Franklin placed 10th in the field, while Miller was close by with a 12th place finish, pacing the race with times of 57.48 and 57.91 seconds respectively, just short of the 57.24 second performance which marked the tail end of the qualifying sprinters.

Though none of the runners were able to qualify to their respective final rounds, the top 16 performances from the three athletes were good enough to garner Second Team All-American honors.

In the women’s javelin throw, junior Hannah Mayer looked to successfully cap off a season in which she set both the Harvard and the Ivy League record with a distance of 50.04 meters.

However, the junior would be unable to record a successful throw, instead recording three misses in as many attempts.

Despite the performance, head coach Jason Saretsky believes that the result does not diminish the successful season Mayer had.

“It’s the nature of the [javelin throw], sometimes it doesn’t go your way.” Saretsky said. “[Mayer] has had an outstanding season…. She had an outstanding spring, not only scoring big points for us at the Ivy League Championships, but winning ECAC, breaking the school record and getting to this meet. She has a lot to be proud of.”

Mayer was not the only Crimson athlete to struggle however, as senior James Leakos would be disqualified from the 10-kilometer race despite a solid performance.

While Leakos would have a strong race which saw him finish ahead of many runners and even lap a competitor, he was judged to have left the area of competition during the race, resulting in his race being voided.

While the two performances were disappointing, Harvard would continue a strong showing via sophomore distance runner Tom Purnell.

In a stacked 5-kilometer field that included NCAA Cross Country National Champion Edward Cheserek and runner-up Kennedy Kithuka as well as defending champion Lawi Lalang, the sophomore would clock in at 14:14.07, good for 20th.