Fuller Leads M. Track to First-Place Finish at Bayou Classic

Not that long ago, all of Texas was surprised to learn that Harvard fielded competitive track teams.

But now that Harvard has made a habit of opening its outdoor season at the Texas Southern Univeristy (TSU) Relays and the Rice Bayou Classic and performed admirably on every occasion, the element of surprise should be pretty much gone.

And if there were still any doubters out there, the Harvard men’s 149-134 victory over the host Owls at the Bayou Classic last weekend should put an end to them.

Point totals were not kept at the TSU Relays, held Mar. 22-23.

Harvard Men

It’s become an annual rite of spring that a Harvard senior will blow away everyone away to start the season. Last year it was javelin superstar Chris Clever ’01. This time it was co-captain Kobie Fuller.

Fuller won the 400-meter dash at Rice in 47.30 seconds—third-best on the school’s all-time performance list. That’s nearly a second’s worth improvement over Fuller’s run of 48.17 at the Outdoor Heptagonal championships, which was supposedly his peak meet last season.

Juniors Matt Siedel and Nathan Shenk-Boright were two of Harvard’s other big winners for the weekend. The pair finished one-two in the 5000 at Rice and at Texas Southern the weekend before.

Their times improved vastly over the two weeks, as Siedel won in 14:44.06 at TSU and 14:31.60 at Rice. Shenk-Boright was within two seconds of his teammate in both races.

Sophomore Alasdair McLean-Foreman scored points for Harvard this weekend, but didn’t start off the season with outstanding times. He placed second in the 1500 and fouth in the 800 at Rice, and won the 800 at TSU in 1:54.06.

The steeplechase was another big source of Harvard wins. Co-captain John Cinelli won the event in 9:34.89 at TSU and John Friedman placed second at Rice.

Friedman also won the 1500 in 4:01.07 at TSU.

The Crimson’s strong individual runners teamed up to post a successful relay showing at TSU. The two-mile relay team won in 7:42.32 and the distance medley team won in 10:17.53.

In the field, senior David Grimm won the hammer with a throw of 41.20 meters at Rice.

Jim Patton continued the Harvard tradition of strong performances in the javelin. As a freshman, he can’t be expected to put up Clever-like numbers, which would be in the 70-meter range, but he still placed highly—second at both TSU and Rice with 54-meter throws.

Harvard Women

The Crimson women couldn’t pull off a meet victory quite like the men’s as Stephen F. Austin won at Rice, but the team wasn’t without its standouts.

Harvard continued its prominence in the hammer with a one-two-three finish by Johanna Doyle, co-captain Nicky Grant and sophomore Breeanna Gibson. Doyle won with a 52.11-meter throw.

Gibson also placed fourth in the shot and third in the discus.

Junior Melissa Tanner was Harvard’s top winner on the track with a 17:40.59 performance in the 5000.

Sophomore Sandra Venghaus was Harvard’s lone winner at TSU with a 37.76 meter effort in the javelin. She also placed second in the event at Rice.

Other strong performances at TSU were tuuned in by co-captain Carrie McGraw, who placed second in the 400 at 57.07 meters; sophomore Beverly Whalen, who placed second in the 1500 at 4:45.69; and Helena Ronner, who took second in the triple jump with a performance of 12.44 meters.