Harvard student-athletes once again shined on the national stage, as two Crimson made history with national championship triumphs in March.

Track & field junior Tito Alofe became the program's first ever national champion in the men's high jump at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. In South Bend, Indiana, junior Jessica Zi Jia Guo lifted the women's foil national championship trophy for the second time in her career at the 2026 NCAA Fencing Championships, making the Toronto, Ontario native the third two-time national champion in Harvard fencing history.

"It's really amazing to change and shape program history," Guo said. "[Head Coach] Daria [Schneider] and all the coaches have been really great influences on me over the years, and past teammates like Lauren Scruggs and Annora Lee were strong forces that allowed me to improve as a fencer."

"It feels amazing, and I'm still taking it all in," Alofe said. "This season in particular presented a lot of challenges, so it's really gratifying to have the year end like this. It feels surreal, and it feels very cathartic to have all that hard work pay off."

A native of Peachtree City, Georgia, Alofe reached the pinnacle of the men's high jump in his fifth trip to the NCAA Championships across both indoor and outdoor competition. At each height, Alofe kept his focus, as he broke the school record by clearing 2.24m (7'4.25") to win the NCAA title.

"Coach Brenner [Abbott] was really critical in helping me stay locked in throughout the meet," Alofe said. "Knowing in advance what I needed to do and visualizing it long before I had to jump was what made me ready for each attempt."

Guo, the 2024 NCAA women's foil national champion and a two-time Olympian, drew on previous experience and the strength of her teammates to reach the top of the podium in dominant fashion in South Bend, defeating Columbia's Zander Rhodes, 15-6, in the semifinal and Columbia's Carolina Stuchbury by an identical scoreline in the final.

"The first day is always a long day with the sheer amount of bouts you fence. [Teammate] Lucia Zhang and I really fed off each other's energy really well and had a great first day," Guo said. "On the second day we knew the stakes were really high, and I had a conversation with coach Schneider that really helped me to get into the right mindset."

While Guo and Alofe both won individual national championships, both recognized the contributions their teammates made in their journeys to gold this month, playing a pivotal role along the way.

"I want to thank all my teammates. They are one of the main reasons I got through the weekend," Guo said. "You're not in by yourself. When you look and see all the people supporting you, it's always a huge motivator in competition."

"Since I've gotten to college, I've become a lot more organized and better with my time management, but more importantly I have teammates, coaches and teachers who are all extremely supportive of my goals," Alofe said. "It's more than myself. I've been helped by so many people to get here, and there's no shortage of support."

Time and time again, Harvard student-athletes prove they can thrive both academically and athletically, and Alofe and Guo's displays are the perfect embodiment of that principle.

Off the strip Guo, a concentrator in Integrative Biology, is currently contributing to research in the Ophthalmology department at the Boston Children's Hospital in Cambridge and helped research efforts in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Alofe, who is currently a concentrator in both Neuroscience and Economics, is a member of several groups on Harvard's campus. Alofe serves as the International Affairs Chair for the Nigerian Students Association and works with the Harvard College Consulting Group and the Black Students Association.

"Harvard is already such a great academic institution, it's great to see the school on a big stage athletically as well," Guo said. "It's amazing to be one of many to represent our school in a different light on the national stage."