MADISON, Wisc. – The Harvard men's and women's cross-country teams raced at two meets on Friday: the Nuttycombe Invite and the IC4A/ECAC Championships.
Graham Blanks won the Nuttycombe Invite against a stacked field and led the men's team to a sixth place finish. The women's team finished 19th in Wisconsin. In New York, the men's team finished 13th and the women's team finished 11th.
Nuttycombe Invite
In what is considered the most competitive race in the NCAA thus far this season, Blanks pulled out a huge win that led the men's team to a sixth-place finish, up 15 places from their finish at this same meet in 2022. Blanks ran with the leaders throughout the first 6k of the men's 8k, making his move with just under 2k to go. He crossed the finish line in 23:23.4, three seconds ahead of second place.
Acer Iverson was next for the Crimson, finishing 36th in 24:01.0. He was followed by
Ben Rosa in 60th (24:11.1),
Joe Ewing in 94th (24:21.3) and
Shane Brosnan in 98th (24:21.9) to round out the five scoring positions. Harvard was one of five teams to have all five in the top 100. With their 287 team points, they were one point off Texas' 286-point fifth-place finish.
The women's team was led to their 19th place finish by
Maia Ramsden, who placed sixth in 19:59.1, improving by one place from her seventh-place finish in 2022. She was followed by
Ella Gilson, who finished 49th in 20:42.5 and
Penelope Salmon in 57th in 20:47.7. The final two scoring positions came from
Ellaney Matarese in 174th (21:48.4) and
Molly Malague in 176th (21:48.5) who crossed the line just .1 apart. The Crimson finished with 454 points, beating out the Northeast's top-ranked two teams, Providence and Syracuse.
IC4A/ECAC Championships
In New York, the Crimson were led by
Noah Ward, who finished 35th in the men's 8k in 24:40.9. He was followed by
Owen Bosley in 54th (24:55.4),
Ben Shryock in 68th (25:04.4),
Sameer Das in 103rd (25:27.4) and Ethan Daidam in 169th (25:57.9) to score points for the Crimson. The Harvard team finished in 13th with 397 points.
The women's team was led by
Zoe Cooper to their 11th place finish, as Cooper placed 19th in 21:26.9. She was followed by
Annelies Quinton in 31st in 21:46.3,
Marie Jensen in 89th in 22:35.1,
Samira Kennedy in 115th in 22:48.0 and
Makena Gates in 109th in 22:48.6 to score 349 points.
Up Next
The Crimson will host the Ivy League Championship Meet on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Franklin Park in the same location as the Battle in Beantown. Harvard looks to defend its women's title and hopes to win the men's as well.
