One Weekend, Three States
Harvard Track & Field Competes Across the Country
By ELIZABETH GUMMER
This past weekend the Harvard track and field team competed in four meets, split across the country over Texas, North Carolina, and Lowell, Massachusetts.
Sending 32 members to Austin for the Texas Relays track meet, the cohort came away with a few personal bests and many sunburns under the Texan sun. The Crimson had just returned 3 days earlier, from their week long spring break training trip in Houston, when they headed back south on Wednesday.
Kicking off the competition Thursday evening, 400 meter hurdlers Taylor Brunskole ‘19, Jacob McLennan ‘20, Karina Joiner ‘20, and Sharelle Samuel ‘22 competed against the nation’s best, while simultaneously clearing personal bests. Erick Duffy attempted new heights in the men’s pole vault, sailing over his first two heights with ease. Facing unforseen winds Duffy was unable to clear the next bar, which would have been a personal record, coming down on the bar too despite having enough height to clear it. Senior Myles Marshall had an unfortunate start to the weekend, stumbling at the starting line and receiving an automatic disqualification.
On Friday morning, senior Ngozi Musa ran a collegiate best career time of 11.65 seconds in the 100 meter dash, taking the win in her heat. Musa also ran the first leg of women’s 4×100 meter relay earlier that day, improving on their time from the week before. The women’s 4×400 meter relay also ran that afternoon, qualifying for finals in an extremely competitive field. Junior Maya Miklos ran an impressive final leg of the relay, clocking in at 53.64 seconds for 400 meters. On the men’s side, Rodney Agyare-May, Jovahn Williamson, Myles Marshall and Kahlil Wassell ran a time of 3:11.30 to qualify for finals the next day. Their final time of 3:10.05 was the second fastest in team history.
Both men and women ran the sprint medley relay, which consisting of two 200 meter legs, a 400 meter leg, and an 800 meter leg to finish. The men’s team of Wassell, Williamson, Marshall, and Thrush placed fifth in their heat, with a time of 3:24.18. The women’s team of Cain, Boone, Meekins, and Gummer faced turmoil when the handoff between Boone and Meekins resulted in a dropped baton and several bruises.
On the final Saturday, the women’s 4×100 meter relay team of Musa, Okoli, Jones, and Cain improved on their earlier time of 47.09 seconds, running a solid 45.33 seconds in a stacked field of athletes.
A few miles away, teammates also competed at the Texas State Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos. Rachael Estell ‘21 ran a season’s best in the 100 meter and 200 meter dash, also setting an opening mark in the long jump. Chelsea Offiaeli put up solid competition in both the hammer and shot put throws, while teammate Gunnar Allison competed in the same events. In the 800 meter, Ryan Thrush ran a solid opening race, coming in first in his heat at 1:53.98. In the triple jump, Lorenzo Daniel opened up his season with a solid effort.
In North Carolina at Raleigh Relays, the Crimson distance runners broke goals and records across multiple races. In the 5000 meter race, Will Battershill ‘20, Kaeo Kruse ‘20, and David Melville ‘22 competed strongly.
Taking the spotlight was Kieran Tuntivate ‘20 in the men’s 10000 meter race. Tuntivate effort took down a 32 year old program record, improving on the time by over 10 seconds to run 28:45.61. Breaking the 30 minute mark is an accomplishment in and of itself. Sophomore Matthew Perreira did just that, running an impressive 29:50.87. Kathryn Gillespie ‘19 opened up her outdoor season with a 4:23.24 1500 meter race, followed by Anna Juul ‘21 at 4:24.27. Finishing next in the race were Maya Rayle ‘22, Tessa Medrano ‘21, Brooke Starn ‘20, Eliza Rego ‘20, and Carolina Beroutsos ‘21.
Running a personal best by 4 seconds in her first race of the season, Abbe Goldstein ‘21 completed the 5000 meter race in 16:28.93, an impressive start to the year. Gillian Meeks ‘20 opened with a 17 second improvement on her 10000 meter time, running 35:32.46.
Staying at home for the weekend, the final section of the team ran, threw, and jumped at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Twin freshmen Tina and Katina Martin dominated the sprints, taking the top 2 places in the 100 and 200 meter races. Kyle Hilton ‘22 took second place in the pole vault, while Iza Sabharwal ‘21 placed first in the triple jump.
Liam Hackett ‘19 set a personal best in the 1500 meter, while Charlie Davis ‘19, Caleb Moore ‘22, and Michael Alber ‘21 ran solid 3000 meter races.
Elizabeth Gummer ‘21 (elizabethgummer@college.harvard.edu) congratulates all for the great performances this weekend.