Crimson Competes at Penn Relays

In its final weekend of the regular season, the Harvard track and field team made one thing very clear: It is ready for the postseason.

Members of both the Crimson’s men’s and women’s squads turned in impressive performances over the weekend, as they traveled to the Penn Relays, the Brown Springtime Invitational, and the Payton Jordan Invitational.

PENN RELAYS

Though next weekend’s Outdoor Heptagonal Championships is Harvard’s most important meet of the outdoor season, the Crimson competed in the largest meet on its schedule this past weekend—the Penn Relays.

Fielding over 14,000 competitors, from high schoolers to professional runners, the Penn Relays allowed a number of Harvard’s athletes an opportunity to face off against some elite competition. Track and field powerhouses Texas A&M and LSU were both in attendance at the 117th installment of the meet, held at Penn’s historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

“You see some of the best athletes in the country,” Saretsky said. “[The level of competition] was very, very strong, as it is every year [at the Penn Relays].”

But the level of competition that Harvard faced was not the only unique aspect of the relays. Total attendance at the three-day event is roughly 100,000 people, many of who are there to watch some of the world’s best track and field athletes.

“The size of the meet is incredible,” sophomore Alaina Murphy said. “There’s so much excitement, not just toward the athletes, but toward track and field in general.”

Saretsky noted that, due to the number of spectators at Franklin Field, athletes were not given a typical amount of time to warm up for their races. The noise during races was also problematic, according to Saretsky, as athletes are often unable to hear their coaches.

“Penn Relays is really about the fans and is not at all athlete-friendly,” Saretsky said. “So as an athlete, you have to make adjustments and just go out there and perform despite the adverse conditions.”

The conditions proved to be a nonfactor for some members of the Crimson squad, as the team delivered some personal-best performances and picked up a pair of event wins in the process.

“It was a great meet for us,” Saretsky said. “We rested a number of athletes [because] it was the week before [the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships], but we took a solid group down to the Penn Relays, and I think we performed really, really well.”

Murphy and classmate Natalia Paine, freshman Erika Veidis, and senior Meg Looney earned an event win for Harvard in the 4x800 meter relay. The team crossed the finish line in 8:53.95, a time that ranks sixth in school history, to top a field that included Purdue University (second place) and Ivy foe Penn (fourth place). The Crimson did not hold the lead in the event until the last leg, when Looney picked up the pace and earned her team the victory.

“[Looney] really thrived on having that crowd cheer her on as she rounded the final turn,” Saretsky said.

Away from the track, the Crimson’s throwers continued to be a force to be reckoned with.

Sophomore Dustin Brode won the shot put with a 17.62-meter hurl. The mark was Brode’s farthest of the season and was just shy of his personal best of 17.65 meters, which is the second best in school history. Brode also competed in the discus for Harvard, finishing in 21st place with a mark of 47.04 meters.

Freshman Ben Glauser earned second place in the hammer throw with a personal-best toss of 58.29 meters. University of Michigan’s Brad Bolton bested Glauser, throwing a mark of 60.25 meters to take home the event title.

“I was particularly pleased with our throwers,” Saretsky said. “Without a doubt, their training is designed for them to be at their best come championship time, when it matters most.”

BROWN SPRINGTIME INVITATIONAL

A small group of Crimson athletes traveled to Providence, R.I. on Sunday to compete in the Brown Springtime Invitational. Though the squad faced a more modest level of competition in Providence than at the Penn Relays, Harvard was able to use the meet as one final tune-up before the all-important Heps meet next weekend.

A group of distance runners highlighted the meet for Harvard in the 3000m run. Junior Stewart Richardson led a pack of six Crimson runners as they took the top six places in the event.

PAYTON JORDAN INVITATIONAL

First-year middle distance runner Adam Cotton was Harvard’s only representative at the Payton Jordan Invitational, hosted by Stanford University. The rookie faced an especially deep field in the 1500m run and finished in 11th place with a time of 3:47.52. The time stands as the seventh-best in Crimson history.

—Staff writer Dominic Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.