CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – Harvard track & field opened the 2023-24 indoor season with historic performances at the HBCU & Ivy Challenge and the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University.
 
Junior Graham Blanks followed his NCAA Cross Country National Championship triumph with a bang, breaking the NCAA record in the 5000m race at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener with a time of 13:03.78. The former record was 13:08.28 set by Arizona's Lawi Lalang in 2012.
 
Three school records fell at the HBCU & Ivy Challenge at Gordon Indoor Track. Juniors Anastasia Retsa and Victoria Bossong broke their own program records in the women's pole vault and the women's 600m race, respectively. In his Harvard debut, first-year Tito Alofe broke a 48-year-old program men's high jump record.
 
The women's team earned a second-place finish with 90 points, while the men's team placed fourth with 58 points.
 
Senior Maia Ramsden began her senior indoor track campaign by breaking the Ivy League record in the 3000m run with a time of 8:46.84 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville season opener. She bested the original record set by Olympian and former Dartmouth runner Abby D'Agostino in 2014. 
 
HBCU & IVY CHALLENGE HARVARD HIGHLIGHTS:

• First-year Emilia Kolokotroni got the Crimson to a strong start in the women's weight throw, winning the event on her first attempt (18.21m).
• Kolokotroni winning throw ranks seventh all-time in the weight throw in program history.
• The Crimson women's team earned additional points in the weight throw as sophomore Michaela Denson placed third in the event (16.72m).
• The Harvard women's team scored points in the high jump as first-year Lilly Hodge took third place with a 1.69m jump. Fellow first-year Klara Barbic finished in fourth with a mark of 1.64.
• On her last jump of the women's long jump, senior Jada Johnson secured first place with a personal-best 5.63 jump.
• Retsa won the women's pole vault, setting a new school record in the event with a 4.21m attempt.
• First-year Lilly Hodge placed second in the women's pole vault, as her 4.00m attempt ranks in the top-five in the Harvard record book.
• Bossong broke her own 600m school record, winning the event with a time of 1:29.34.
• In an incredible collegiate debut, Alofe set a new program record in the men's high jump with a 2.20m jump. The previous program-high was 2.19m from Melvyn C. Embree '76 in 1975.
• Sophomores Chloe Fair and Reuben Henry-Daire each placed second in the women's and men's 300m, respectively.
• Junior Peter Diebold took second in the 1000m race, while sophomore Justin Levy recorded a third-place finish.
• The women's and men's 4x440y relay squads each won the event.

COLYEAR-DANVILLE SEASON OPENER HARVARD HIGHLIGHTS:

• Against a highly competitive field, first-year Sophia Gorriaran took second in the women's one mile race with a time of 4:36.66.
• Ramsden continued her strong form, setting a new school-high in the 3000m run with a time of 8:46.84.
• Senior Jack McDonough set a new PR in the mile in his final Harvard meet (4:19.55).
• Blanks added another accolade to his historic 2023-24 year, besting a hyper competitive 5000m field with an NCAA record time of 13:03.78. 

UP NEXT:

The Crimson will compete next at the Northeastern Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 9.

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