Harvard Track and Field Sets New Records at the 2024 Ivy League Heptagonals

The Harvard Track and Field team hosted the 2024 Indoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships at home in the Indoor Gordon Track this past Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 24 to Feb. 25. The Crimson had multiple record-breaking performances, with the women’s team finishing in third place with 97 total points and the men finishing fourth with 81 points. Over the course of the two days, Harvard won a total of eight event titles.

The Crimson started out strong on the first day, with freshman thrower Emilia Kolokotroni ending her rookie season by winning an individual Ivy League title in the women’s weight throw. Kolokotroni threw 19.45m to secure a personal best as well as a first place finish. Her throw also marks the third-best throw in the event at the Heptagonals. In the women’s pole vault, junior jumper Anastasia Retsa, the Ivy League record holder in the event, earned second place with a mark of 4.30m. Her teammate, freshman Lily Hodge, followed behind her, earning third place with a mark of 4.10m.

Over on the men’s side, junior thrower Kenneth Ikeji capped off an incredible regular season by earning this year’s NCAA best. Ikeji threw a whopping 24.39m in the men’s weight throw, which broke both the Ivy League record as well as his own Harvard record as well.

“That was a special throw,” said William McCurdy Director of Track and FieldJason Saretsky. “He’s got a new coach, and it’s an adjustment.I was really proud of the way he put it together.” His throw also marks the longest men’s weight throw in the NCAA so far this season, as the only one to clear 80 feet.

Senior distance runner Maia Ramsden made a first impression on the track, running the 3000m, an event in which the senior holds the Ivy League record. Ramsden ran a 9:19.76 second race to clinch first place. The team also sent multiple runners to the finals for their event. In the women’s 1000m, junior distance runner Ellaney Matarese, who ran a time of 2:49.74 seconds in the qualifying heat, posted the fastest time of the day in the event. Freshman middle distance runner Sophia Gorriaran, the Harvard women’s 800m record holder, got second in the qualifiers for the event with a time of 2:09.69 seconds. Junior sprinter Victoria Bossong also received a spot in the finals for the women’s 500m run, with her performance of 1:12.68 seconds on the first day.

The second day proved to be even more groundbreaking for the Crimson, with the team continuing to make history. Junior jumper Daniel Falode started the day off right, earning the Ivy League title in the men’s triple jump with a personal best of 15.96m. The jumper was elated to find out he had achieved his three-year long goal of clinching the Harvard record.

“It was a really good feeling actually,” Falode said. “I’ve been chasing [the record] for a while. I came in freshman year and was jumping well to start off with, and I ended up getting injured at the Ivy League championships, so I didn’t manage to break it my freshman year. Same thing with my sophomore year, I didn’t manage to break it then. So for everything to finally come together was a really good feeling.”

Falode took four attempts to achieve his record-worthy jump of 15.96m, but the junior was no stranger to Ivy League titles, as this is his third year defending his indoor title.

“This is by far the best series [of jumps] I’ve ever had,” the junior said. “Because I’ve been dealing with some injuries in my ankle, I had to do some stuff on short approach in the first couple of competitions to kind of prime my body and get it ready for the championships.”

In the men’s high jump, first year jumper Tito Alofe, who had just previously set the Harvard high jump record, took home third place in the event with a jump of 2.11m.

The runners on the men’s side also had an impressive showing, earning several points for the Crimson. Senior sprinter Gregory Lapit also defended his Ivy League title from the year before in the men’s 400m dash with a time of 47.52 seconds to earn first place. His teammate, senior sprinter Peter Diebold, ran 1:02.73 seconds to earn third place in the 500m. First year sprinter Timi Esan ran a time of 6.74 seconds in the 60m and achieved third place in the event.

Senior sprinter Lance Ward logged a fourth place result for the Crimson in the 200m, finishing in 21.53 seconds. “I thought he did an outstanding job,” Saretsky said, noting that Ward had not competed in a majority of the indoor meets due to a setback earlier in the season. “He was just so motivated for the team [and] wanted to… really lay it out there.”

Senior middle distance runner Peter Diebold evades his fellow Ivy League competitors. By Sarah G. Erickson

The men’s distance team kept up the momentum, with junior distance runner Ben Rosa running a time of 14:08.21 seconds to represent the Crimson on the podium in the event, and earn second place. Junior middle distance runner Joe Ewing ran 4:10.23 seconds in the men’s final and earned second place. The 4x800m relay team ran a time of 7:34.49 seconds to earn second place in the event.

On the women’s side, Bossong asserted her dominance over the 500m distance with an Ivy League record of 1:08.53, a world-leading time that places Bossong as second all-time in the NCAA. Bossong was a tenth of a second away from achieving first all-time in the NCAA.

“Realizing that I had just run the second all-time fastest time in the NCAA and currently hold the number one time in the world this year was a moment of immense validation and gratitude,” Bossong said. “It proved that my consistent training paid off, demonstrating that I am in peak shape and capable of surpassing my own expectations.”

Freshman middle distance runner Sophia Gorriaran, already a school record holder over 800m indoors, continued her hot start to her Crimson career by winning the event with a time of 2:04.56. Her teammate, junior sprinter Chloe Fair raced a time of 53.96 seconds in the women’s 400m to take second place in the event. Junior distance runner Ella Gilson also added to the Crimson’s point total with a third place podium finish in the 5000m, recording a time of 16:02.04.

The women’s team capped off an impressive middle and long distance showing with a dominant victory in the highly anticipated Distance Medley Relay, lapping most of the field to finish with a time of 10:56.77, a new Heptagonals record. This comes just after Harvard had set an Ivy League record of 10:52.07 seconds.

“Racing in the DMR after setting the Ivy League record was a mix of excitement and focus,” Bossong said. “Going into the meet, I had set high goals for myself, knowing that I would be pushed to limits I hadn’t previously reached and that I would do whatever was necessary for my team. Throughout the day, I reminded myself to take it one race at a time, staying grounded and focused on the task at hand.”

Celebrations were muted, however, when they learned that they had missed out on qualifying for NCAA Nationals by only a hundredth of a second.

“Laid their hearts out there and really gave it everything they had,” Saretsky said about the women’s relay squad. “It’s always tough to come up a little bit short.”

“It’s all part of the journey,” said Bossong. “Despite the race not going as we had hoped, I felt incredibly grateful to be running alongside three insanely talented girls.”

The Crimson’s team performances fell short of its first and second place finishes at 2023’s indoor Heptagonals for the women’s and men’s teams, respectively.

“Going into the season, we had higher aspirations for both teams,” Saretsky said, emphasizing that injuries to key athletes resulted in the team having to recalibrate expectations leading into this year’s championships. “I'm feeling really proud of the way that we competed, just given the place that we were in going into the weekend,” the director added. “This was the hand we were dealt, and I thought we played that hand really well.”

“This minor setback serves as motivation to fuel a shift in energy,” Bossong said. “We are ready to put in the work, both on and off the track, to come back stronger and more determined than ever.”

Her teammate, Falode, also shared similar sentiments about the future of the team.

“I made nationals, which is pretty cool, so I have one more chance to try and replicate a similar distance, if not try and beat it,” said Falode. “I think that I’ve set myself up well going into the outdoor season. My body is feeling better, and I think that this is a good sign of great things to come.”

While the team’s regular indoor season is over, there are still five Harvard athletes who will be competing in the indoor NCAA championships, from Thursday, March 7 to Saturday, March 9 at the New Balance Track in Boston. Gearing up for its 2024 national championship debut, the team is looking to home in on its fundamentals and end the postseason with a strong effort.

Bossong and Falode will be joined by Gorriaran, Ikeji, and Ramsden at Nationals, representing both Harvard’s track and field as well as middle and long distance.

“It's really great to see the different disciplines represented for our programs,” Saretsky said. “We take pride in being a complete team.”

—Staff writer Nadia Fairfax can be reached at nadia.fairfax@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Miller MacDonald can be reached at miller.macdonald@thecrimson.com.