The Harvard women’s 4×400-meter relay team has just concluded a historic indoor track season in style, finishing sixth place at the NCAA Indoor Championships and earning All-American First Team Honors. Before this final indoor meet, they broke their school record for the fourth time, resetting it to 3:30.28. The team plans to carry this momentum into the outdoor season with more achievements in sight.
The 4×400-meter relay is one of the most well-known events in track and field. It is the grand finale of the meet and a final chance to earn points for teams. In this relay, four team members each run 400 meters, one lap around an outdoor track or two around an indoor one. The Harvard women’s 4×400-meter team—comprised of Victoria Bossong ’25, Chloe Fair ’25, Izzy Goudros ’25, and Sophia Gorriaran ’27—has proven time and time again that they thrive under pressure with their combination of speed, strategy, and teamwork.
“I think we just channel each other’s energy and have fun out there,” Gorriaran shared.
“None of us stressed about it, it’s not any of our main events,” she added. “It’s kind of like no stress, no pressure.”
Bossong and Gorriaran run the same main event: the 800-meter. Fair specializes in the 400-meter hurdles, which are only competed during the outdoor season, so during the indoor season, she runs the 200-meter, 400-meter, and distance medley relay. Goudros focuses on the pentathlon (five events, scored as one event) during the indoor season and the heptathlon (seven events over two days, scored as one event) during the outdoor season.
All four of these athletes earned All-American First Team Honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships in their respective events as well as the 4×400-meter relay. Bossong and Gorriaran placed second and sixth in the 800-meter, respectively. Fair ran the 400-meter leg of the distance medley relay that placed seventh, while Guordos took home sixth in the pentathlon.
This relay squad has more than individual success in each leg of the race. There is a unique synergy among them that has made all the difference. “I think having a good culture and good environment helped us get to Nationals,” Gorriaran said.
Part of that positive environment was the overwhelming support within the team this year, which likely played a key role in their ability to compete against teams composed of all 400-meter specialists. “It definitely was a little weird to look around and see other teams that have strictly [400-meter] runners competing against us, but I think we got over that pretty well,” said Fair.
The team’s collective success went beyond just the four relay runners as they placed 11th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the best finish at this meet in program history. Additionally, the women’s team took home 11 out of the 12 All-American First-Team Honors earned by Ivy League Women, the most earned by any women’s team in the nation this year. “Our successes indoors just really go beyond the four of us. I think our team showed out at the Ivy Championships and then at Nationals in a way that we’ve never seen before. And I’m really proud of that,” said Fair.
A pivotal moment for the team came at the Terrier Distance Medley Relay Challenge. “[When] our 4×400 [team] had not quite qualified for nationals yet, we had a last chance meet that we were going to run at,” Fair said. “We were going to run [the relay] pretty much alone, so we were incredibly nervous.”
Running without opponents is a challenge—there’s no one else to compete against, so it’s all about racing against the clock. Despite this, the relay team secured their qualifying time, setting a new school record for the fourth and final time this season. Fair, who anchored the relay, crossed the line as the clock read 3:30.28.
Despite the pressure, the team drew strength from their teammates rallying behind them. “A bus full of people showed up and followed around the whole track. And so the whole way around, there was someone yelling at us, and it was just so incredible to see that level of support,” Fair said. Fueled by their team’s support, they came out of this meet ranked eighth in the nation and secured their place at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
As the relay team members move into the outdoor season, they have tangible goals in mind. “We’re looking to get the outdoor school record,” Fair said. “We’re looking to get that this year, hopefully in the next meet or two, and I think we’re just going to see continued success in [the 4×400-meter relay].”
The team hopes to see even more support from the Harvard community, encouraging students to come out and cheer them on. “We’re hoping to get a fan bus ready,” Fair said about the Ivy League Championships at Yale on May 10 and 11. “We’re coming to take that title.”
This meet in New Haven will be the only outdoor meet within a reasonable distance of Harvard—just about two hours by public transport. Most big outdoor meets are in the South, so if you want to watch this team challenge Harvard’s outdoor school record in the 4×400, this is your chance.
With a history of success, a solid team culture, and high aspirations for the outdoor season, the Harvard women’s 4×400 relay team is poised to continue its dominance on the track.
Olivia Lunseth ’28 (olivialunseth@college.harvard.edu) cannot wait to see what this relay team can do during the outdoor season.