Thomas Leads Track and Field, Sets New Record

New year, same Gabby Thomas.

The junior co-captain did not miss a beat ringing in the new year. Sprinting in the Columbia Challenge, one of the track and field team’s two meets this weekend, the Florence, Mass., native outran her own, which also happened to be Harvard and the Ivy League’s, top time in the 60-meter dash.

“When I line up to run, especially at a high caliber meet such as the one at the armory, I’m making sure that I am not distracted by who is in the lanes next to me,” Thomas said. “The most important thing is to focus on what I can control, such as my race plan. For me that means pushing out really hard and a few technical things that I need to fix. Every race is an opportunity to work on that.”

Crossing the finish line in 7.26 seconds, Thomas finished among a top-six featuring three Oregon sprinters. The top time matched the New England record in the race, set by UConn’s Trish-Ann Hawthorn in 2011—at the same track.

“Breaking my own record is an amazing feeling,” Thomas said. “It means progress and I’m on an upward slope. I’m trying to get that 60-meter to the 7.10s so this is a good sign.”

Thomas’ performance was one of several first-place finishes by the Crimson track and field team this weekend. A skeleton squad traveled to the Columbia Challenge at the New York City Armory on Friday, while Sunday’s Harvard-Yale-Princeton Meet featured the entire group. Competing against its division rivals, the Crimson took second place in both the men’s and women’s divisions, both times falling to Princeton but downing Yale.

H-Y-P MEET

Competing at its own Gordon Indoor Track, Harvard fielded its first full event of the indoor season. The women’s team amassed 63 points, 15 less than the victorious Tigers. The men grabbed 51 points for team, 48 below the mark set by Princeton.

Freshmen contributed substantially to the team’s result on the weekend. In her first ever collegiate indoor race, freshman Abbe Goldstein was the first to finish, doing so 4:49.96 on the mile. Running half that distance, classmate Ryan Thrush running also in his first indoor race, took the top spot in the 1:55.09 two-lap sprint.

From then on, the Crimson dominated in what has become the team’s bread-and-butter, the short sprints, hurdles, and relays. Junior Ngozi Musa started things off with a bang. In her second race that week, the third-year crossed the line in 7.58 seconds and left the track with a gold medal around her neck for the 60-meter dash.

The hurdle variant of the race brought two more pieces of gold jewelry to the Harvard squad. For the men, co-captain Jay Hebert nabbed the top spot with a season best of 8.02 followed closely by first-year Erick Duffy, claiming silver. On the women’s side of the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Livia Gauntlett also hit a season best mark in her first place finish of 8.49 seconds.

Sophomore Micah Meekins replicated the feat, but ran a bit further. In the 200-meter dash, the sophomore beat the rest of the field to the finish line, doing so in 24.91 seconds.

In mid-distance, sophomore Maya Miklos maintained her season hegemony on the genre. The sophomore took first with a clean two seconds to spare between her and the second place finisher. Junior co-captain Myles Marshall did the same, taking the gold medal with just under three seconds of space between himself in the next best sprinter.

The relays teams claimed their, what is now weekly, gold medals. For the women’s 4x440-yard relay, it was all sophomores. Comprising second-year classmates Zoe Hughes, Miklos, Karina Joiner, and Meekins, the quartet grabbed a smooth gold medal in 3:50.50. The men’s squad replicated the feat. Senior Matt Hurst, Marshall, freshman Jovahn Williamson, and freshman Rodney Agyare-May finished first, this time in 3:16.02.

Not to be outdone, the men’s 4x880-yard relay ascended to the top of the podium as well. Senior Jonas Aranda, Thrush, senior Gabe Montague, and sophomore Mike Kolor claimed the top spot in 7:43.49. However for a bit, it didn’t look like they would. Kolor turned on the gas as he rounded the final corner of track, claiming the lead with just 50 yards remaining.

The men’s team is in a particular strong spot with its relay teams. Last week the group split the team into two separate 4x400-meter groups. The two groups finished first and second.

“The relays going one and two [last week] I think shows the quality of the team we have,” Marshall said. “More than anything it shows our competitive spirit and excitement surrounding the event.”

The student-athletes in the field found success of their own, particularly in the jumps. In long jump, sophomore Simi Fajemisin achieved a season best on a 5.77-meter leap for the gold medal on her third attempt. Thomas took second in the event, jumping once for 5.70 meters.

Co-captain Marlena Sabatino also achieved a season best mark on the afternoon, taking the gold medal following a 3.90-meter vault. Teammate junior Nicole Trenchard left with bronze. On the men’s side, Ian West cleared the 5.05-meter mark, enough for the second place medal.

Sophomore Gunnar Allison also reached the second position on the platform with a 15.86-meter toss in the weight throw event.

COLUMBIA CHALLENGE

For the first meet of the weekend, only a few of the team’s athletes traveled to New York Friday to compete in the competitive Columbia Challenge. Featuring some of the nation’s top track programs, including Oregon and Duke, the competition was one of the most difficult the team has faced this season.

In addition to Thomas’ domination in the 60-meter dash, she claimed another gold in the 200-meter dash, crossing the line in 23.04 seconds. Joiner joined her among the top ranks with after 8.49 second finish in the 60-meter hurdles that merited fifth place.

Fajemisin wrapped things up with a silver medal finish in triple jump. The sophomore leapt 12.70 meters, out-jumping athletes from Duke, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and UCLA.

“I think while we might have things going well so far compared to the local area we have to keep in mind our goals of competing at the stage of Heps,” Marshall said. “I think that everyone on the team, no matter their results, has stuff to work on, and I would hope and expect to see things come better together over the next few weeks.”

—Staff writer Cade Palmer can be reached at cade.palmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @THC_CadePalmer.