Women Place Sixth in Wisconsin Invitational

While its male counterpart remained at home, the Harvard women’s cross-country team rode solo this past Saturday while competing at the Wisconsin Inter-Regional Invitational. Turns out that some of the country’s top competitors couldn’t stop the Crimson’s shine as the team placed sixth out of 20 teams on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis.

“I was really pleased with the results,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “It was our first time going out to that competition, and it was great to come away beating a couple of nationally-ranked teams.”

“It was a pretty fun meet with some great competition,” senior Claire Richardson said. “It was a good opportunity for the women’s team to get used to a bigger meet setting, and we mixed it up with a lot of people.”

“With so many runners, you want to find your way and just see how you do,” she added.

It didn’t take long for the women to adjust to the longer 6K race and larger field, as the Crimson finished the contest with 157 points, trailing only six behind fifth-place Indiana.

Harvard finished ahead of nationally-ranked Florida (No. 7) and Wisconsin (No. 21).

After the runners stayed together and ran as a pack for the first two miles, Richardson broke away, crossing the line at 20:38 to claim a ninth-place overall finish for the Crimson, about 14 seconds off of the top spot.

She was closely followed by junior Jeanne Mack, who clocked in a time of 20:50 for 24th place.

Sophomore Sammy Silva finished at 20:56 with junior Nicole Cochran crossing the line only two seconds later, good for 36th and 37th place, respectively.

Junior Kailyn Kuzmuk rounded out the top five by turning in a time of 21:15, placing 51st overall.

“This meet was a good stepping stone,” Richardson said. “We all push each other in training to keep improving, and this meet was a great performance. People felt really good, and we were really excited about the day’s results.”

With all of Harvard’s scorers placing within the top quarter of the participating runners, the results not only speak to the team’s improvement, but to the depth and unity within the squad.

“In a smaller race, one person being in front of the other can determine if you win or lose,” Saretsky said. “In a bigger meet, we are able to capitalize on our strength, which is our depth. With all five runners working together and running well, a team can do well in the big-meet setting.”

“We are learning how to work better as a team, which is really important in cross-country,” Richardson added. “There has already been a lot of progress coming in. People are in good shape and are really excited about competing.”

Although each individual is responsible for her own time, runners must count on their teammates to fill out the other scoring positions with strong finishes.

With several important larger meets coming up in the next few weeks, the women used this opportunity to practice establishing their positions and working together as a larger pack in a contest with more competitors.

“We have pre-nationals in Indiana in two weeks, which is a really big race where we see people from all over the nation,” Richardson said. “This race was definitely good experience for bigger meets like that, and it helped us get confidence for this kind of setting.”

But the Crimson squad knows that regardless of the size of the competition, it needs to focus on what it does best and to keep running strong.

“When you are in a bigger setting, the key is to block out all of the things that you can’t control,” Saretsky said. “A bigger field and a bigger crowd ultimately shouldn’t influence how you race.”

“At the end of the day, our sport is about putting one foot in front of the other,” he added.

—Staff writer Stephanie Herwatt can be reached at sherwatt@college.harvard.edu.