Crimson Opens Outdoors at Tourney

On the first weekend of Spring Break, select athletes from the Harvard men’s and women’s Track and Field teams took a trip down to warmer climates to escape the gloomy dampness of Boston.

Unfortunately for them, they did not quite get to relax on the beach like most Harvard students.

The athletes traveled down to Texas to compete in the Bayou Classic at Rice University to see how they matched up with unfamiliar competition.

While the women finished the weekend eighth out of 12 teams with 41 points, the men placed seventh out of eight with 47 points. The winning teams—who have had the benefit of a few weeks of practice outdoors—were Rice and Texas State for the women and men, respectively.

“Overall the trip was a success. We were able to get that first outdoor meet under our belts and a solid week of training,” senior Adam Gelardi said.

Next weekend, the teams will compete in Providence in a tri-meet against Ivy League competitors Brown and Dartmouth.

MEN

Senior James Albertine was one of the few male runners who ran two races for the meet, and almost scored twice for the small Harvard team.

In the 800m run, he finished ninth, just over .7 seconds out of scoring position and two places behind junior Arthur Baum, who picked up two points for the Crimson with his time of 2:00.23, just barely missing getting under the two-minute mark.

In the 1500m, Albertine placed fifth, just behind Steve Magness of Rice—who registered the fastest high school mile time in the country last year by running it in 4:01. Albertine came through the finish line at 3:59.10—on pace for a personal record in the mile, which is only 100m longer.

Freshman Jonathan Paul—one of a number of first year standouts during the cross country and indoor season—also scored points for the Crimson by placing right behind Albertine in sixth at a time of 4:01.22.

The other two freshmen runners whom the Crimson took down to Texas were Sean Barrett—who is finally close to full health and placed an impressive second in the 5000m run (15:42.36)—and Devin Lyons-Quirk—whose time of 9:58.75 earned him fifth in the 3000m steeplechase.

The size of the team the Crimson brought down to Rice was also hampered by a number of still nagging injuries—especially to junior Alasdair McLean-Foreman and freshman Connor Wilson.

“They are in the process of recovering and are expected to continue to perform well into the outdoor season and will definitely contribute heavily to the success of our team as a whole,” Albertine said.

Due to these issues with injury and the limited numbers that the Crimson usually sends to the meet, the full extent of Harvard’s abilities going into the new season is still an unknown.

“It is very difficult to gage where we are at this point in the season,” Gelardi said. “The schools we were competing against have been able to be outside for weeks now and for us it was the first time we were able to pick up some of the outdoor events due to poor weather in Boston.”

Nevertheless, with a number of key athletes resting up in order to be at full strength for the main stretch of the outdoor season, it may be a few weeks before the Crimson reveal the full effect of its combination of youthful talent and some more experienced runners.

WOMEN

For the women, the high expectations leading into outdoor season seemed to be validated by the general success in its first meet.

“Honestly, once we get out of conference, the level of competition is just as tough or sometimes tougher,” senior thrower BreeAnna Gibson said.

“Considering we had a limited number of people, it was our first opportunity to go outdoors and we still had jetlag from the plane ride, I definitely think the meet reflects that we are really strong going into the outdoor season,” Gibson said.

Unfortunately for her personally, Gibson dislocated her big toe the day before the meet and was hampered by the injury. Nevertheless, she still managed to finish sixth in the hammer throw (42.71m) and eighth in the shot put (12.53m).

However, her fellow field athletes showed their collective strength amongst some of the best competition in the country. Senior Johanna Doyle placed third in the hammer throw with a toss of 51.93 meters. So far, Doyle’s skill has her amongst the top twenty in the country—and definitely the woman to beat in the Ivy League.

Senior Alexandra Petrone—another standout for the field team—placed second in the javelin, which along with discus and hammer throw are events limited to the outdoor season in which the Crimson will look to grab points all spring.

On the track, sophomore Laura Maludzinski continued what has been a year filled with continued improvement as she ran a personal record in the 800m—earning fourth place with a time of 2:10.86.

Close behind her with three fellow teammates who took places seven through nine, led by senior Beverly Whelan who finished in 2:18.50.

Both Maludzinski and Whelan were back out on the track for the 1500m as well, finishing fifth (4:35.27) and seventh (4:41.18), respectively. Senior Rosalinda Castaneda rounded out Harvard’s scoring in the event with a time of 4:44.52.

The Crimson is still looking for more practice outdoors, however, before it feels it will be at full strength and ready to make a run for the top three spots at Heptagonals.

“We have had only maybe one or two good days to throw outside,” Gibson said. “It’s just not the same indoors, and it’s not the same ring. But we do have a lot of seniors, are extremely experienced and are a close-knit team—all of which feeds what we hope will be improvement and resounding results.”

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.