Adabelle Ekechukwu shattered the school record in the weight throw, one of five Crimson athletes to set school marks Saturday (Harvard Athletic Communications).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Five Harvard school records fell Saturday as the Harvard track and field team hosted Brown, Northeastern, Army, MIT and Williams in the annual Harvard Challenge at Gordon Indoor Track. The Crimson teamed with the Bears to take on Army/Northeastern and MIT/Williams, and the Ivy duo took home the meet title.
The Harvard women did the heavy lifting on the day, contributing 112.5 points to the Ivy women's total of 158.5, topping Army/NU's score of 99 and MIT/Williams' score of 60.5. The Crimson men were also the top scoring bunch, posting 78.5 points in the Ivy men's total score of 124.5, which was behind Army/NU's total of 149.5 and ahead of MIT/Williams' 44. The Ivy duo took the combined scores title, with Harvard/Brown earning 283 points to top Army/NU (248.5) and MIT/Williams (104.5).
"Today was a great day for the Crimson," said director of Harvard track and field/cross country Jason Saretsky. "It is still really early, but to break five school records and several others winning their individual events bodes well for the rest of the season. There is a great energy right now on the team, and I know everyone is excited for what is to come."
The story of the afternoon came from the throwing cage as junior captain Adabelle Ekechukwu became the first Harvard woman ever to eclipse 19 meters in the weight throw. On her fourth attempt of the day, Ekechukwu launched a throw of 19.22 meters (63' 0.75"), smashing her own personal best and the previous school mark of 18.90, which had stood since 2001. The junior also collected five team points in the shot put, placing second with a 13.54m (44' 5") mark.
Danielle Barbian fronted a strong women's sprints showing by posting a new school record in the 60 meter prelims, qualifying first in 7.61, .03 second ahead of the previous record and .09 ahead of her previous best. The sophomore went onto win the event with a mark of 7.70 in the final. After Gabrielle Scott and Christi Scott finished 2-3 in the 200, another school record fell when Erike Veidis led a 1-2-3 Crimson finish in the 500, finishing in 1:13.28. The record time was more than .3 seconds faster than the previous record, which had stood for nearly three years.
The women's 1,000 belonged to Molly Renfer, as she cruised to victory nearly four seconds ahead of the field. Her time of 2:49.06 marked a personal best and stands as the fastest time in program history, just .01 ahead of the previous all-time mark. Morgan Kelly earned Harvard seven team points with a first-place finish in the 3,000 and rookie Autumn Franklin won the 60 meter hurdles, after posting the fourth-fastest time in school history in the preliminaries (8.73). Mary Hirst's clearance of 1.68m (5' 6") was good for a win in the high jump, and Sydnie Leroy placed second in the pole vault to spark the women's field athletes.
After breaking the school 60 meter hurdles record at the Battle of Beantown last season, sophomore Jarvis Harris wasted little time resetting the mark in 2013. After qualifying first in the event, Harris blazed to a winning time of 8.02, nearly a tenth of a second faster than his previous school record. Harris also captured the win in the triple jump with another personal best, bounding to a mark of 14.80 meters (48' 6.75"). Harris' triple jump performance stands as the seventh-best in team annals.
The throws made up a big chunk of the points scored last season and Saturday was no different as the men went 1-2-3 in the shot put and 1-2-4 in the weight throw. Dustin Brode was the pace-setter in the shot put, winning the event with a mark of 17.09 meters (56' 1"), with Igor Liokumovich and Ben Glauser close behind. Glauser paved the way for the men in the weight with a personal best of 18.62 meters (61' 1"), good for the ninth-best mark in program history.
The men's sprint group chipped in some valuable points for the Harvard/Ivy League effort, including a 2-3 finish by Andrew Ezekoye and Damani Wilson, respectively, in the 60 meters, and a second place run by Jesiah Coy in the 500. James Leakos brought home seven points for the win in the 3,000, posting a time of 8:31.70, more than four seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
The Crimson is back in action next weekend, as the team will send competitors to the Terrier Invitational, the Donahue Games, and the Texas A&M Mondo Challenge.
