Clever, Kraay Lead M. Track at Penn Relays

The Harvard men’s track team earned its fair share of trophies and national accolades at the Penn Relays over the weekend to keep Harvard track in the spotlight after the women’s team’s achievements last Thursday.

Co-captain Chris Clever won the javelin Saturday morning with a throw of 73.78 meters, while co-captain John Kraay captured the Eastern shot put championship with a throw of 16.66 meters on Friday.

Clever’s winning throw places him third on the NCAA national performance lists.

“It came on my first throw [of the meet],” Clever said. “It was a pretty good series. The first three were all over 70 meters. I warmed up well, and the weather conditions were good. It just all came together.”

It was Clever’s first win in six tries at the Penn Relays.

“I’ve thrown here twice in high school, four times in college, so this was my last chance to win here,” Clever said. “I’m from Penn, so I’m glad to win of my last opportunity.”

By winning at Penn, Clever beat several athletes who should be top competition at the NCAA championships next month. The best NCAA throw in the country had been 74.92 meters—over a meter better than Clever’s best, but not unreachable. Clever has been stepping up his performances meter-by-meter all season, and Saturday was no exception.

“I’m more confident than I’ve ever been,” Clever said. “I’ve been really consistent in practices and meets, and I think I still have a few more meters left in me.”

In winning the Eastern shot put championship, Kraay beat out rivals Rocky Craley and Jeff Petrulis of Princeton, neither of whom reached 16 meters. The victory was especially gratifying, since Kraay nearly didn’t advance pass the preliminaries.

“In the preliminaries, I didn’t really throw well,” Kraay said. “I kind of snuck into the finals. But it was good feeling to win against those guys, since I compete against them all the time.”

Harvard also sent a distance medley relay team, consisting of sophomores Sean Meeker, Matt Seidel and John Traugott, and freshman Alasdair McLean-Forman. The relay team placed 11th out of 15 teams in its heat with a time of 10:00.56—a better time than Heptagonal rivals Dartmouth and Columbia at the same meet.

B.C./B.U. Meet

Harvard hosted a non-scoring meet with Boston College and Boston University yesterday afternoon. The meet served as the final tune-up for the Heptagonal Championships at Princeton next weekend.

“I think we’re really focused now,” Kraay said. “It’s tough when you go outside. The season is long, and you start to lose focus. But we’re good now, and we have the chance to give it one last shot.”

Kraay won both the shot put at 16.14 meters and the discus at 49.10 meters. His performance in the discus was the best in the Ivies this season. He and sophomore Ian Shelswell have the potential to finish one-two at Heps next week.

“I’ve been improving, and Shelswell and I have been pretty even all season,” Kraay said. “That’ll mean more points for the team.”

On the track, Traugott and sophomore Chris Antunes had the men’s most impressive performance in the 800-meter run. The pair finished first and second, with Traugott clocking in at 1:52.55, and Antunes placing a few hundredths behind him. Both have the potential to score a few points at Heps.

The Crimson’s other victories on the day came from junior Benton Bodamer in the 110-meter high hurdles at 15.87 seconds, and Aaron Snead in the pole vault at 4.13 meters.

On the women’s side of the action, plenty of athletes stepped up their performances to the point where they could be in contention to score at Heps next week, which should be crucial. Several fifth- and sixth-place finishes could make the difference between unseating three-time defending champion Brown next week.

Freshman Breeanna Gibson won both the discus and shot put with throws of 44.02 meters and 13.29 meters, respectively.

Junior Nicky Grant won the hammer at 51.50 meters, and placing second in the shot put right behind Gibson at 13.25 meters. She will in contention to win her first ndividual Heptagonal title at Princeton next week.

Freshman Alexandra Petrone won the javelin convincingly, clearing 40 meters for the first of the season with a 40.58-meter throw.

On the track, sophomore Ashley Furst and junior Carrie McGraw both finished in 58.05 seconds in the 400-meter dash.

Sophomore Amanda Shanklin finished the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 61.84 seconds, the second-best time in the league this year to co-captain Brenda Taylor, and over a second better than the time she ran at the Penn Relays on Thursday. Taylor’s time of 56.11 seconds from Thursday was far and away the best time in the league—and the best time in the nation—this season.