Carswell, Lonergan Qualify For Nat'ls

Two of Harvard's runners will be racing against the nation's best.

Juniors Ian Carswell and Killian Lonergan both raced at the Terrier Classic at Boston University on Saturday, and both performed amazingly. Not only did they gain automatic berths in the NCAA's, they each set school records.

"I went into the meet hoping to get the NCAA qualifying mark of 8:01.5, and also I wanted to break the eight-minute barrier," Carswell said of the 3000 meters.

He did both, running in 7:59.92 time, which was also enough for first place in the competition.

Lonergan, meanwhile, set his school record in the 5000 meters with a time of 13:59.35. With that time, Lonergan is now the No. 1 ranked runner in the country and will get to prove his position at Nationals.

Harvard treats the Terrier Classic as an extra competition for its top competitors, while other schools send entire teams. Accompanying Carswell and Lonergan were co-captain Matt Bundle, senior Darin Shearer and junior Karen Goetze.

Of the three, Shearer qualified provisionally for the NCAA's in the mile, a sort of waiting list. If there aren't enough people that qualify automatically, then Shearer will make Nationals.

A Pair of Seconds

In team action, the Harvard men's and women's indoor track teams both finished second in their respective triangulars on Sunday.

The Cornell women defeated the Crimson (2-2 overall) and third-place Brown, while the Brown men captured the victory against Harvard (3-1) and Cornell. Both took place at the Gordon Track and Tennis Center.

For the Harvard women, the meet was a confidence-booster, because it came against perhaps the two best Ivy teams. For the past four years, Cornell and Brown have traded off winning the indoor Heptagonals.

"It was a really great meet for us," said senior Heather MacLennan, who won the long jump and the triple jump. "It was our first Ivy competition...I think we did really well."

Notable Harvard performers on the day included sophomore Allison Goldkamp and the mile relay team. Goldkamp shattered her personal record in the 400 meters, finishing third with a time of 57.87 seconds.

The mile team, meanwhile, set Harvard's record in that category by less than a second. The team of Goldkamp, co-captain Amanda Williams, freshman Lee Shearer and freshman Heather Hanson won the race with a time of 3:50.61.

Williams also won the 400 meters with a time of 57.19 seconds.

The men finished in the same place as the women but were not as content with the outcome. For men's track, Brown and Cornell aren't the juggernauts that they are for women's, so Sunday's showing proved that the Crimson has some work to do before Heptagonals.

"All in all, we showed good individual performances throughout, but we're starting to show signs of weakness with depth," Carswell said.

The Crimson won five events out of 16 on the day, same as the victorious Bears, but only had four second-place finishes, half as many as Brown.

Among those good individual showings was senior Ben Bowen's 1:54.08 time in the 800 meters, more than a second ahead of his nearest competitor. The other Harvard winners were Lonergan (mile), Joseph Johnson (400 meters), Kenneth Hughes (shot put) and the two-mile relay.