CAMBRIDGE, U.K. – In their second contest across the Atlantic and the second installment of the historic HYOC meet this year, the Harvard Crimson once again joined the Yale Bulldogs to team up and compete against a combined Oxford and Cambridge team. The team's trip to the U.K. was made possible by a generous donation from Ed Baker '01, who has endowed the HYOC meet. Harvard and Yale came out on top, finishing the year with two HYOC meet wins.
 
One point was scored by each event win to determine team scores. On the women's side, Harvard-Yale defeated Oxford-Cambridge 12-7. On the men's side, the scoring came down to the last event, where a Harvard-Yale win in the 4x400-meter relay broke the tie to win the meet 10-9. Harvard-Yale pulled out the overall combined win, 22-16.

Harvard Highlights

• Reigning NCAA Champion Stephanie Ratcliffe led a Harvard sweep of the hammer throw podium, as Ratcliffe threw 66.72 meters to finish first, followed by Cammy Garabian in second with a 55.19-meter throw and Estel Valeanu in third with a 53.24 meter throw.
• Egbe Ndip-Agbor ran 100 meters in 12.09 to finish first in the race, scoring another point for Harvard-Yale.
• Valeanu and Ratcliffe returned to top the podium in a second throwing event, as Valeanu, the All-American in the discus throw, won the event in Cambridge with a 54.32-meter toss. In her first-ever discus throw contest, Ratcliffe took second with a 43.19-meter throw. Valeanu's throw set a new meet record, breaking Olympian Nikki Okwelogu's record from 2015.
• Daire Mahon scored a point for the Harvard-Yale men's team with a win in the high jump.
• Josefina Biernacki and Fabiola Belibi went 1-2 in the women's 100-meter hurdles, with Biernacki winning in 14.22 and Belibi taking second in 14.29.
• Aaron Shirley cut 290 meters off the race he recently competed at the NCAA Championships in to take first in the men's 110-meter hurdles in 14.44.
• Izzy Goudros made her debut in the open 400-meter run with a 55.12 to win the meet.
• Sebastian Pereira won the triple jump to take home a gold medal from the U.K.
• Vivien Henz and Joe Ewing led a tactical race in the men's 1500-meter run with Henz crossing the line first in 4:01.36 and Ewing finishing just a step behind in 4:01.75.
• Anastasia Retsa cleared 3.90 meters to finish first in the women's pole vault.
• Sarah Omoregie finished her career with the Crimson with a win in the shot put, throwing 16.79 meters to top the podium while teammate Cammy Garabian threw 12.48 meters for second place.
• Victoria Bossong ran a shorter race than usual to take first in the 200-meter dash in 25.13.
• Another Crimson All-American, Alexander Kolesnikoff finished his season with a 19.02-meter toss in the shot put to win the event.
• The Crimson 4x100-meter relay team of Belibi, Biernacki, Goudros and Jada Johnson finished first in 48.52.
• Lance Ward joined a team of Yale sprinters in the 4x100-meter relay to defeat Oxford-Cambridge with a time of 41.01, a new meet record, breaking the previous mark from 1967.
• Kristin Otervik finished first in the 2000-meter steeplechase, cutting 1000 meters off her usual distance to finish in 6:50.60.
• Bossong and Chloe Fair joined a team of two Yale athletes to win the women's 4x400-meter relay in 3:49.33.
• The Harvard-Yale men's 4x400-meter relay team that included Aaron Shirley and Gregory Lapit finished the day with a win in 3:12.58 to close out the meet with another meet record, one that was previously set by Harvard-Yale in 2015. 

HYOC Awards

The Harvard-Yale vs. Oxford-Cambridge meet traditionally gives out awards for each event group. The inaugural Ed Baker '01 Distance awards were given out for the first time at this meet to a men's and women's athlete, both from Oxford-Cambridge. Harvard award winners are listed below:

Rittenburg Hurdle Awards: Josefina Biernacki (women's) and Aaron Shirley (men's)
Boal Hammer Awards: Stephanie Ratcliffe (women's)
Pat Lyles Most Outstanding Performer Awards: Estel Valeanu 

The Harvard-Yale combined team also brought home the three trophies for winning the men's, women's and overall team points contest.