Personnel Missing at Heps

The Heptagonal Championships, the event that serves as the Ivy League track title, will be up for grabs this coming weekend as the men’s and women’s track teams head to Princeton to compete. The Crimson, however, will not be greedy with its ambitions.

“For the women, our goal is to be in the top half of the league,” Coach Jason Saretsky said. “On the men’s side, we’re looking to be competitive in the events where we have athletes.”

While these goals may seem modest, and somewhat defeatist for a sports team about to enter its biggest meet of the year, they are anything but. Harvard has battled with a lack of numbers all season, constantly failing to fill all of the spots available for its athletes.

“We’re going to be down in numbers,” senior co-captain Julia Pederson said of her team, which will only bring 21 out of the possible 36 girls to the meet. “Finishing in the top half with half the amount of people would be a legitimate goal for us.”

The top half for the Harvard women would mean placing at least fourth in the championship. The Cornell women are expected to lead the pack again this year, after a five-year streak of Heptagonal wins, including last year’s decisive sweep of the competition.

“Cornell is dominating,” Pederson said.

Sophomore high-jumping standout Becky Christensen held the same opinion as Pederson.

“Cornell always has a lot of people,” Christensen said, touching on the Crimson’s main weakness. “They’re a really strong team—they have a lot of depth.”

Harvard will rely on Christensen to gain a large chunk of their overall points. The sophomore, who jumped a personal best of six feet last meet, will be trying to reach that goal again, as well as move up in the national standings, where she is tied for 10th.

The Crimson will also be looking for key points in the javelin from Pederson and freshman Eda Karesin, who are ranked first and second in the conference, junior Clara Blattler in the pole vault, and sophomore Favia Merritt in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

For the men, a shortage of athletes will also be problematic. However, the Crimson will attempt to be competitive in each spot they have filled.

“We’re not going to go there and get embarrassed by who we’re bringing,” said senior co-captain Sean Barrett. Barrett is looking to score in both of his races, the 10,000- and 5,000-meter runs.

Harvard will rely on junior Alex Lewis in the decathlon and freshman 400-meter hurdlers George Eggers and Justin Grinstead, as well as its throwers, to pick up a majority of its remaining points.

“We need to go out there and do what we’ve been doing all season long,” Saretsky said. “That’s to go out and compete hard and let the chips fall where they may.”

While this coming weekend’s meet may prove to be anticlimactic for many of the graduating seniors, the Crimson has made leaps and bounds in developing its track program, especially adjusting to a new coach.

“Even if we don’t get the results we’re looking for this season, things are looking up for next year,” said Barrett. “I’m disappointed I won’t be able to stick around for it.”