Track and Field Places Second at Crimson Multi-Meet

An event that occurs once might be lucky. Maybe twice, too. But when the same outcome happens six times in a row, something other than chance is at play.

This weekend, the Harvard women’s track and field team hosted the Crimson Multi-Meet in collaboration with the Beantown Challenge, which pits Boston schools against each other. And for the sixth year in a row, the women’s track and field team took first place in this Beantown Challenge.

In the broader Multi-Meet competition, the men’s and women’s teams combined to rake in nine event wins and place second overall behind the University of Rhode Island. While the women won their half of the meet with 138 points, the men took fifth with 80, or 10.83 behind fourth-place Brown.

“As with every year, these early meets aren't wildly important, but they do set the tone for the approaching season,” captain Raegan Nizdil said. “They are our first opportunity as a team to come together and compete alongside each other, which is an exciting change from our practice pace.”

It was in the field events that Harvard truly thrived. Of the team’s nine total event wins, four came in this arena.

The Crimson swept pole vault and shot put. For the women, junior Marlena Sabatino cleared a height of 3.80 meters to grab gold in pole vault, while senior Nikki Okwelogu did the same for shot put by tossing her weight 15.71 meters. That throw by Okwelogu represented the 16th best in the nation.

The senior continued her success with a second-place finish in weight throw with a distance of 16.45 meters. Also placing for the women in pole vault was sophomore Nicole Trenchard, who finished third with a jump of 3.35 meters.

“I'm really proud of how our team opened up,” Okwelogu said. “We had a great showing, but no one is satisfied, which is exactly what you want out of a meet this early in the season. We're a very driven group, and I'm excited to see what we can do in the coming months.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Ian West set a personal record with a gold medal jump of 4.95 meters in pole vault. Captain Julian Nunally also claimed the gold in shot put throw with a 17.55 toss, good for the 21st best of the season. Senior Josh Whitener led the Crimson in the weight throw with a third-place finish after a 17.43-meter heave.

Another gold medal came at the hands of freshman Zoe Hughes, who won the pentathlon with 3,702 total points. Her male counterpart, freshman Anthony DeNitto, took fourth in the heptathlon with 4,547 total points.

For the women’s team in particular, success was made through the air. Senior Haley Baker claimed a silver medal in the long jump, travelling 5.36 meters. Triple jumpers freshman Simi Fajemisin and junior Floriane Kameni added to the lead with a second and third-place finish, respectively. Nizdil added a bronze medal of her own with a 1.65-meter leap.

In the running events, Harvard also earned some success. Sophomore Gabby Thomas started things off for the women with a gold in the 60-meter dash after a time of 7.42 seconds. At 38.6 seconds, she then clocked the second-fastest 300-meter dash in school history.

“Meets like this at home can produce some impressive results,” Nizdil said. “And this weekend, they did. We were able to see exciting early-season times and marks from our young team members.”

The women continued to do well in short-distance events, with four advancing to the finals of the 60-meter hurdles and three placing in the top five. Freshman Karina Joiner led the pack with silver and a time of 8.73. Senior Jade Miller and freshman Livia Gauntlett followed close behind and took third and fifth, respectively.

In distance running, freshman women dominated the event. Gillian Meeks took second in the mile with a 5:03 time while classmate Eliza Rego claimed fifth with a 2:58 in the 1,000-meter event.

Similarly, the men achieved some success in distance races and the 60-meter hurdles. In the former, junior Jay Hebert clocked 8.09 seconds, a career best and enough to win the event. Sophomore Mitch Valko took fourth in the race with an 8.31 time. In the world of distance running, a Crimson junior, Tyler Spear, grabbed the gold with an 8:29.63 race in the 3,000 meter.

“I am happy with the time that I ran yesterday but even happier because I know that it can still be much better,” Hebert said. “My race wasn't perfect, and I ran a personal best, which means that there's still a lot of room to improve.”

In the relays, the women, represented by senior Sylvia Deppen, freshman Zoe Hughes, Joiner, and freshman Micah Meekins, won gold for the 4x440 in 3:53.58 seconds. The men in the same event, freshman Jacob McLennan, junior Randy Raymond, and freshman twins Will and Tom Rienas, placed fifth at 3:23.74 seconds.

“Given that our team is very young, it's great to see how well this past semester's training has prepared them for collegiate competition,” Nizdil said. “I have no doubt that our girls have a lot in store for us throughout these approaching months….The talent is there. All we need to do is stick to our training, commit ourselves and hold each other accountable.”

—Staff writer Cade Palmer can be reached at cade.palmer@thecrimson.com.