CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard track and field will split up over the weekend, heading to the Mt. SAC Invitational (April 17-19), Larry Ellis Invitational (April 17-19), LSU Alumni Gold (April 19) and the MIT Coed Invite (April 19). The Crimson is coming off a dominating win over rival Yale last Saturday.
Mt. SAC Invitational
The 56th annual Mt. SAC Relays, held at the Hilmer Lodge Stadium located on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., will being with the 3K steeplechase and the 10K on Thursday. This will be the third-straight year Harvard has competed in the Mt. SAC Relays. Last year, distance runners excelled as James Leakos neared his lifetime best and Morgan Kelly set a new career high in the 5K.
Larry Ellis Invite
Meet Info
This will be the fourth-straight year the Crimson has competed in the Larry Ellis Invite, hosted by Princeton University. Last year, Ben Glauser led the Harvard contingent in the hammer with a sixth-place toss of 58.09 (190-7), and in the shot put with a winning mark of 17.15 (56-3.25), leading a 1-2-3 Harvard finish. More than 120 collegiate teams, bringing over 1100 athletes, will be competing at Weaver Stadium this weekend. Among the teams participating are Ivy League foes Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn and Princeton.
LSU Alumni Gold
The LSU Alumni Gold meet, held at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., will begin Saturday with action on the track starting at 10:15 a.m., and field events beginning at 9 a.m. A non-scoring meet, this will be the third-straight season that Harvard has participated in the event and fifth time the squad has ventured to LSU.
Last year, the Crimson quartet of Autumne Franklin, Christi Scott, Erika Veidis and Gabrielle Scott blazed to a time of 3:38.79 to become the first quartet to eclipse the 3:40.00 mark in program history.
MIT Coed Invite
The Crimson will also compete locally this weekend, staying in Cambridge for the MIT Coed Invite.
Indoor Action
The Crimson women are coming off a successful indoor season, as the squad won its second-straight Ivy League Heptagonal Championships behind four Ivy League champions – Most Outstanding Field Performer Adabelle Ekechukwu, junior Danielle Barbian, sophomore Autumne Franklin and freshman Nikki Okwelogu. Junior Erika Veidis qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, earning second team All-American honors.
The Harvard men accumulated the most points in program history at Heps, sending two athletes - seniors James Leakos and Maksim Korolev – to NCAA's. Korolev earned second team All-American accolades in the 3K and 5K, while Leakos was also recognized with second team honors.
Last Time Out
Harvard combined for 27 individual wins to roll over Yale at the McCurdy Outdoor Track last Saturday. The men took home their fourth-straight victory over the Bulldogs by a 104-34 margin, while the women notched consecutive win No. 7 by a score of 87-53.
Rewriting History
Harvard posted an extremely strong showing at the Florida Relays, taking down four school records.
Juniors Danielle Barbian and Ashley Collinsworth both broke the previous school record in the 100 meter dash, clocking times of 11.66 and 11.79, respectively. The previous mark was set by Favia Merritt '09 (11.82) at Heps in 2008.
Collinsworth, Sylvia Deppen, Autumne Franklin and Barbian posted a time of 45.84 in the 4x100 to rank first all-time in Harvard history and fourth in the Ivy League.
In the 4x2, Collinsworth (24.8), Barbian (24.8), Madison Hansen (24.7) and Modesett crossed the finish line in 1:39.65 to break the Harvard school record.
The sprint medley relay of Christi Scott, Gabrielle Scott, Hansen (55.8), and Molly Renfer (2.09.9) posted the fastest time in Harvard history, crossing in 3:56.36 to finish sixth in the event.
Freshman Nikki Okwelogu pushed her way to second all-time at Harvard with a toss of 49.33m (161-10) in the discus, finishing fifth overall in a strong field. The throw also vaulted the rookie into the top-10 in Ivy history.
In the 1500 meter run, junior Molly Renfer and freshman Sarah Gillespie finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Renfer crossed in 4:24.33 to rank second all-time in the Crimson record book, while Gillespie finished just behind (4:24.73) to move into third all-time.
A Year Ago
Harvard combined for six league titles at the 2013 Outdoor Heptagonal Championships, as the women locked up a third-place finish – its best since 2003 – and the men ranked fifth overall.
At the ECAC Championship, the Crimson women's squad posted its best result in team history, compiling 36 points to tie for sixth at the meet. The men earned 19 points on the weekend, good for a 16th-place result.
