PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Harvard Track and Field teams were both named outdoor Ivy League Team Champions for the first time in history after both teams finished in first at the 2023 Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal Meet. In addition to Saturday's four individual champions, 13 more Crimson individuals or relay teams brought home event wins to end the weekend with 17 gold medals.
 
With 203 points, the Harvard men's team secured a 66-point victory. They were followed by Princeton with 137, Cornell with 95 and Penn with 79 to round out the top half. This is the Crimson men's team's 11^th outdoor title and first since 1983. 
 
On the women's side, the Crimson won the title with 193 points ahead of Princeton with 160, Penn with 118 and Dartmouth with 55. With this win, the Crimson women's team has swept the 2022-23 seasons as champions in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. This is the women's team's sixth team title in outdoor track and field and first since 2017. 
 
Maia Ramsden was named the women's most outstanding track performer for winning both the 1500m and 5000m runs. Kenneth Ikeji was named the men's most outstanding field performer for his large margin of victory in the hammer throw.

Harvard Champions

• Sarah Omoregie got the ball rolling on day two with a win in the shot put, claiming her second Ivy League title this year. Her throw of 17.41m took first in the event while teammate Estel Valeanu took third with a 15.28m throw and Cammy Garabian scored points for Harvard in fifth.
• The men's 4x100m relay of Cam Henry, Lance Ward, Collin Fullen and Jonas Clarke won in a spectacular photo finish as Clarke leaned over the line to take first in 40.35, just .02 second ahead of Penn in second.
• Jada Johnson was the clear winner in the heptathlon, as she took first or second in five of the seven multi events to win with 5153 points. She was followed by Fabiola Belibi in second place with 4729 points.
• Ramsden defended her title from 2022 with a win in the 1500m run in a time of 4:12.54. She was three seconds ahead of anyone else in the race while Penelope Salmon also scored a point for Harvard in sixth place.
• Victoria Bossong set a new personal best that places her inside of one second off the Harvard record to win the 400m dash, crossing the line with a time of 52.55.
• Chloe Fair ran a spectacular race in the 400m hurdles, putting it in fifth gear in the final 100 meters of the race to claim her second individual title as a first-year in a personal best of 57.75.
• The Harvard men swept the podium in the men's 400m hurdles, led by Aaron Shirley with a time of 50.33. Ondrej Vesely took second in 50.87 and Peter Fischer took third in 52.36. With this sweep, the Crimson team put themselves a bit further out of reach for the team title.
• In the women's 200m dash, the top two spots on the podium went to the Crimson. Tina Martin defended her indoor title in the distance in 23.295 while Adaji Osaro-Igwe took the silver, just .002 seconds behind Martin in 23.297 to set the second and third best times ever run by Crimson athletes.
• Alexander Kolesnikoff threw 19.92m to win the shot put. He completed four throws on the day, with all four landing further than the second-place competitor.
• Just three hours after winning the 1500m run, Ramsden returned to take the 5000m run title. She hung with the lead runners until the final lap, where she took control and finished well ahead of the competition in 16:19.18. Maya Rayle finished fifth to score two points.
• After winning the 10000m run on Saturday night, the Ivy League record holder in the 5000m run, Graham Blanks, waited until the final laps to sprint to victory in the race with a time of 23:56.44. Acer Iverson followed his moves and finished second in 13:59.79.
• Daniel Falode appears to be unbeatable in the triple jump, as he won another championship in the event with a jump of 15.41m. Sebastian Pereira scored two points in fifth place.
• Valeanu claimed the title in the discus throw with a 56.77m toss, over three meters further than the next competitor. Her throw set a new Harvard school record. Cara Salsberry added points to the team with a fourth-place finish.

Second Place Finishers

• Harvard took second and third in the 110m hurdles, as Samuel Bennett ran 14.10 and Aaron Shirley ran 14.11 to net 14 points from the event.
• Reed Pryor took home the silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase, pulling out a quick last lap to hold his place in second with a final time of 8:51.72.
• The women's 4x100m relay team was just a few inches shy of the title, as the team of Osaro-Igwe, Mfoniso Andrew, Chrystal Aluya and Egbe Ndip-Agbor took second in 45.35.
• In a close race in the men's 1500m run, Vivien Henz sprinted to second place in 3:44.16. Joe Ewing also scored two points in fifth place.
• Josefina Biernacki scored a second-place finish in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.73, finishing just five thousandths of a second ahead of third place and one hundredth of a second ahead of fourth.
• Martin took the silver medal in the 100m dash, finishing the sprint in 11.61 seconds. Osaro-Igwe and Aluya also scored points for Harvard in fourth and sixth, respectively.
• Ward earned another piece of hardware with his second-place finish in the 100m dash in 10.47. Fullen took fourth in the race in 10.50.
• The women's 4x400m relay team of Bossong, Jacklynn Okereke, Martin and Fair took second to end the day with a time of 3:37.97.

Bronze Medalists

• Chet Ellis brought home a bronze medal for Harvard in the high jump with his clearance of 2.08m.
• Kristin Otervik took third place in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 10:25.25.
• Peter Diebold finished in the third-place spot in the 800m run with a time of 1:50.55.
• Ward took home a medal of every color as he finished third in the 200m dash in 20.72.
• John Minicus scored 6853 points to finish third in the decathlon, taking first or second in three of the ten events.
• In the final race of the meet, the men's 4x400m relay team of Shirley, Gregory Lapit, Jonathan Gamarra and Steffan Jones took home a bronze medal in 3:08.31.

Up Next

Athletes qualifying for the NCAA East Preliminary round will compete for a spot at the NCAA Championships in Jacksonville, Florida from May 24-27. Stay tuned to GoCrimson.com and the team's social media channels for updates on qualifiers.