Ben Glauser will compete in the shot put and hammer throw at the NCAA East Prelims (Harvard Athletic Communications).
NCAA East Preliminary Start Lists
The Particulars
11 Members of the Harvard track and field team are set to compete in this weekend's NCAA East Preliminary meet in Jacksonville, Fla. Six representatives from the men's team and five from the women's squad will be competing this weekend. The group of 11 athletes matches last year's program-record for highest number of meet participants.
Harvard's Participants
The Crimson participant list is a sign of good things to come for the program as all but three competitors are underclassmen and none are seniors. On the men's side, rookie Ben Glauser qualified in both the shot put and hammer, while fellow throwers Dustin Brode and Igor Liokumovich will also compete in the shot put. Sophomore distance specialist James Leakos will compete in the 10,000 and Nico Weiler looks to do damage in the pole vault. Rookie Dean Sullivan also earned a spot in the competition as a javelin thrower.
Freshman Erika Veidis looks to continue her strong rookie campaign in the 800 while top high jump threat Mary Hirst looks to advance to the finals as well. Allie Pace will take part in the pole vault competition and Shannon Watt (discus) and Adabelle Ekechukwu (hammer) will represent the Harvard women's throwing corps.
Last Time Out
A number of Harvard athletes turned in impressive marks and times at the ECAC/IC4A Championships May 11-13, as the women placed 38th with 5.50 points and the men took 15th with 19 points . The women's 4x400 relay squad broke a 13-year old school record with a time of 3:42.32 in the event prelims and then re-set the school record 24 hours later, posting a time of 3:41.41 in the final, good for seventh in the race. Nico Weiler broke his own school record in the pole vault, clearing 17' 7.75" (5.38m) to capture the IC4A title handily. Dean Sullivan earned valuable team points with a third-place mark of 214' (65.23m) in the javelin and Dustin Brode led a trio of shot putters with a seventh-place distance of 56' 5.25" (17.20m).
Last Year's NCAA East Prelims
Current assistant coach Brian Hill '11 shined in the 800 in Bloomington, Ind., last May. After earning a spot in the nation semifinal in his first race, Hill ran a personal-best time of 1:49.31, finishing 12th and claiming the final qualifying spot in the NCAA Championships. Nick Farnsworth launched a throw of 210' 7" (64.18m) in the javelin to take 20th, up 12 spots from his pre-event seeding of 32nd in the region.
All-Ivy League Honors
Based on the results from the Heptagonal Championships, Harvard saw 10 of its athletes earn All-Ivy League honors. Dean Sullivan (javelin) and Shannon Watt (discus) represented Harvard on the first team. Jarvis Harris (110 hurdles), Ben Glauser (shot put, hammer), Watt (shot put), Erika Veidis (800), Mary Hirst (high jump, heptathlon), Hannah Mayer (javelin) all earned second team recognition. The 10 All-Ivy nods represents the most for Harvard in an outdoor season since 2002.
The men's team had its best finish in a decade, as it amassed 92.75 points over the two-day meet to claim third in the final standings. The women's squad finished in sixth place, earning 71 points.
Up Next
The NCAA Championships will be held in Des Moines, Iowa June 6-9 on the campus of Drake University.
