Women Push Tigers In Tight HYP Finish

Harvard’s men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to New Haven for the HYP tri-meet, where the women almost upset the Tigers, falling by a narrow four points to finish second. The men placed third.

With 58 points, the Harvard women tallied seven ECAC qualifying finishes and nine personal bests to overpower the Bulldogs’ meager 39 points, but came up just short of Princeton’s 62.

“The meet was really exciting,” junior Becky Christensen said. “It was really encouraging to come so close to Princeton.”

The Crimson was anchored by junior Brittan Smith’s amazing day, raking in three wins. With a long jump distance of 5.74 meters, Smith was just two centimeters short of her personal best, but still claimed the top spot. On top of that, her 7.76 second first-place time in the 60 meter dash was a season best, as was her 200 meter first-place finish time of 25.29.

“It was really encouraging to see everyone go out and do so well,” Christensen said.

Senior Danielle Mirabal took second in the 60 meter with a 7.81 second finish, while junior Favia Merritt finished about a half second behind Smith in the 200 meter with a time of 25.87 seconds. Juniors Shannon Flahive and Dara Wilson and freshman Dina Emde finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, in the 60 meter hurdles.

Christensen’s 1.77 meter leap in the high jump placed her first in the event, with Emde taking second with her season-best jump of 1.67 meters.

Senior co-captain Molly Boyle threw a personal best 16.25 meter distance to win the weight throw event and classmate Clara Blattler captured the win in the pole vault, clearing 3.75 meters.

Junior Aishlinn O’Callaghan’s 2:12.40 time in the 800 meter was her personal best and qualified her for the ECAC Championships.

The men’s side did not fare as well, finishing with only 25 points. Princeton, ranked No. 24 in the nation entering the meet, scored 92 and Yale totalled 53.

“Our overall performance wasn’t what we had hoped for,” senior Chris Green said. “We’re not quite where we want to be, but there’s room to move up in the next two weeks.”

Green and freshman Brian Hill both claimed personal best finishes in the 1000 meter with times of 2:27.15 and 2:30.43, respectively. Green’s finish also qualified him for the IC4A meet. Senior Brian Holmquest and classmate Andrew Lipkin also qualified for the IC4A Championships with their respective fourth place (8:20.02) and sixth place (8:28.32) finishes. Lipkin’s sixth place time was a personal best.

The men offered strong showings in the relay event with the 4x400 squad. Sophomore Justin Grinstead, juniors Derek Jones and Nils Wernerfelt and Hill took second with a time of 3:22.27 and the 4x800 team of sophomore Robert Kenney, junior Haibo Lu, and freshmen Vito Cannavo and Daniel Chenoweth also captured second place with a season-best IC4A qualifying time of 7:46.22.

Chenoweth also finished the mile in a personal-best time of 4:11.25 to place second and qualify him for the IC4A event.

The Crimson returns to Gordon Track next Sunday for the USATF New England Championships before heading to Cornell for the Heptagonal Championships, which are an important opportunity for both the men and women to make marks in the Ivies before the start of the outdoor season.

“Our goal is always to place in the top half in Heps,” Christensen said of the women’s squad. “Coming so close to Princeton, hopefully we’ll do better.”

“We’re just going to try get ready for Heps,” Green said of the men’s side. “We’re trying to get sharp, to get fast, and do everything we can to score some points.”

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.