Christine Clark Has One Last Shot

Take a look at Christine Clark’s high school athletic accomplishments, and you might not immediately know which sport she was recruited for.

The Tucson native, who had run track since fourth grade, picked up hurdles her junior year of high school, winning a state championship in the 300-meter that same season. The following year, she added the 100-meter hurdles state championship—as well as the 300-meter hurdles again—to her belt.

Yet you won’t find Clark, now a senior at Harvard, on the track roster.

“I just started playing basketball in seventh grade and loved it, so going into high school, that was my number one focus,” Clark said. “Harvard actually wanted me to run for them, and I said ‘no thank you.’ I think the people who do two sports are incredible, but I only did other sports in high school to cross train for basketball, and I can’t really do that in college because here, basketball’s full time.”

That focus has led Clark to where she is now—a four-year starter and co-captain of a Harvard women’s basketball team that won the first WNIT game in the Crimson’s history when Clark was a sophomore and is now poised to challenge for the Ivy League title this year.

Clark played for the Arizona Elite club team in high school and began getting recruited during her junior year by a number of Division I programs. After taking official visits to Kansas State and DePaul University, Clark—ranked by ESPN during high school as the 55th best point guard in the country—visited Harvard.

“I had 20 plus D-I offers, and I think academically Harvard is unmatched, but I also just fell in love with the style and the coaching program on my official visit,” Clark said. “[Coach] Kathy [Delaney-Smith] is just an amazing person, and through my four years has developed me so much on and off the court as a person, and I don’t think I would have gotten that anywhere else.”

Now, entering her final season as a guard on Harvard’s team, the senior looks to bring home the Ancient Eight title, a feat the team has not accomplished since the 2006-07 season.

“We’ve come in second place [each of] my three years here, and my goal this year is to really figure out the path to keep the team consistent and keep us striving towards excellence, and in that goal, I think that an Ivy League Championship will result,” Clark said.

Clark may be new to the role of captain, but leadership on the court is not unfamiliar for the senior. Last season, Clark led the team in scoring—averaging 15.6 points per game—and often took on the role of floor leader while on the court.

But the improvement in her game has, if anything, caused her to work even harder. Over the past summer, while also working 30 hours a week in a cancer lab and getting her research published, Clark put in five hours every day in the gym to expand her skill set.

“Where she found the time to bring her game to this new level, I don’t know,” Delaney-Smith said. “She has a lot of ways to score, [but] the one way she needed to grow was to create for teammates and deliver the ball when she drew the double or the triple team, and she’s there now. It’s just an added dimension that will make this team better, and she’ll probably score more, believe it or not.”

Even off the court, Clark is never far removed from basketball.

Along with fellow co-captain Kaitlyn Dinkins, Clark puts together volunteer events with various organizations to get the team involved with community service.

“We packed bags for the Walk for Breast Cancer—Kathy’s a big supporter of that—and we went down and just spent time packing bags on the assembly line for all the runners that were going to run,” Clark said. “We have other things planned with the Boys and Girls Club, and we’re definitely going to be more involved with them as far as getting them out to practices and trying to build different relationships with those kids, because they’re not necessarily in the best place.”

In addition to her duties as co-captain, Clark spends time researching the avenue she wants to pursue following graduation—professional basketball.

The path is not unfamiliar to Harvard basketball alumnae—former Crimson guard Emily Tay ’09 took her talents to Germany after a successful collegiate career.

“I want to play wherever I can, so if I can play in the WNBA, I want to play there, and I want to pursue playing overseas in Europe, but I can’t really do too much because of NCAA rules, so a lot of that is going to happen once the season’s over,” Clark said.

But for now, the senior is focusing on the upcoming season and leading her team to the elusive Ivy League title, one which Princeton has had its grip on for four years running.

“Even if I weren’t going to play professionally, I’d still have that desire to finish strong,” Clark said. “I’m still going to keep working hard and keep getting in the gym, and I think that things will happen from that extra work.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Linsamnity.