Cambridge, Mass. - The Harvard men's and women's track and field teams opened the 2022-23 indoor season with the HBCU and Ivy Challenge, hosting Howard, Delaware State and Dartmouth to the Gordon Indoor Track. The Harvard women's team won the meet and the men's team placed third behind Delaware State and Dartmouth. Jonas Clarke (60m dash), Maia Ramsden (3000m Run) and Graham Blanks (5000m run) set new school records.

With 12 events scored, the Harvard women's team earned 133 points to place first ahead of Howard's 121, Dartmouth's 100 and Delaware State's 41. The men's placing were as follows: Delaware State with 109.50, Dartmouth with 104.50, Harvard with 102 and Howard with 70.

Harvard Highlights

• Jonas Clarke set a school record in the 60m dash with a new mark of 6.71 seconds. He started his day with a 6.73 in the preliminary round to tie the previous school record and bested his time in the final to set the new time to beat. Lance Ward took second in the 60m dash with a 6.76.
• Maia Ramsden broke the school record in the 3000m run, setting the new time at 8:54 to beat the previous record by 15 seconds.
• Graham Blanks and Acer Iverson both smashed Iverson's previous school record in the 5000m run, with Blanks holding the new time to beat of 13:18.45. 
• Harvard started the day with a 1-2 finish in the women's weight throw with Estel Valeanu taking first with an 18.31m throw and Cammy Garabian taking second with an 18.06m throw. Valeanu's 18.31m throw now ranks fourth all-time by the Crimson.
• Alana Carroll took first in the women's pole vault as the only athlete to clear 3.80m. Anastasia Retsa took second with a 3.65m clearance.
• Kenneth Ikeji dominated the men's weight throw, with each of his recorded throws reaching further than the second place distance. His 20.72m throw was his best of the day that ultimately claimed first place.
• Sarah Omoregie won the women's shot put with a throw of 16.45m. The Crimson took four of the top five spots in the event with Valeanu in third, Garabian in fourth and Stephanie Ratcliffe in fifth.
• Victoria Bossong took first in the women's 600m dash with a time of 1:33.43. In a close finish, she out-sprinted a Howard athlete to cross the line first.
• Harvard runners went 1-2 in the men's 300m dash with Gregory Lapit crossing the line first in 33.79 and Lance Ward crossing second in 33.93.
• The Crimson ended the meet with a win as the team of Lapit, Samuel Bennett, Max Serrano-Wu and Steffan Jones won the 4x400m relay in 3:19.67. 

Up Next

Harvard will train for the next month in preparation for the second meet of the season on Sunday, Jan. 15 at the UMass meet at the TRACK at New Balance.