Flahive Proves Mettle in Heps Win

Meet Shannon Flahive, track and field athlete extraordinaire.

In the classroom or around campus, she’s just like any other Harvard student. But on the track, this soft-spoken senior transforms into one of the most versatile competitors the Crimson track program has seen in a very long time.

After four years of hard work, setbacks, and success, Flahive’s commitment to the track program culminated in a first-place finish in the pentathlon at last weekend’s Indoor Heptagonals.



Already the school record holder, Flahive won the event with a personal best and ECAC-qualifying 3,650 points. Her performance on the first day of competition set the tone for the weekend, as the women’s team ended up finishing a respectable third place among Ivy competitors.

“I think that it’s been a long time coming,” Flahive says. “I’ve been new to the multi events. I was a really late starter, so my technical events have taken a long time to develop. It was just a matter of putting together five decent events.”

“Shannon has always been a great competitor and athlete for us,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky says. “I was very pleased with the way she performed.”

Naturally a sprinter, Flahive earned 976 of her 3,650 points in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking in at 8.69 seconds.

“I’m definitely a sprinter and hurdler,” she says. “That’s definitely my strength. I had to learn that you can’t use your speed and strength directly in the technical events. It’s more about relaxing and visualizing. It’s a very different mindset.”

Solid showings in the high jump, long jump, and the 800-meter run sealed the deal for the athlete, making just her second appearance in the pentathlon at Heps.

Flahive became the first Crimson woman to win the event since Marquita Patterson took it back in 1982.

“It feels great,” Flahive says. “We always had a pretty strong multi tradition, so it feels really good to be able to put it together senior year and come out with a win.”

Unlike many of her teammates and competitors, Flahive did not get into the track and field circuit until junior year of high school.

Originally a soccer star, the Littleton, Co. native was actually recruited by the high school track coach to run for the team.

“I got to the point where [soccer] just wasn’t stimulating enough,” Flahive says. “That spring, I joined the track team. It was kind of a crazy move, because I was supposed to go to college to play soccer. That was going to be my ticket in, but I needed a change.”

Flahive’s bold move ended up paying large dividends.

In a matter of just two years, the athlete relied on raw talent to own school records in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, pentathlon, and heptathlon, to name a few.

More importantly, Flahive earned offers from several Division I schools before settling on Harvard.

“I had to sell myself pretty hard, since recruiting season is junior spring,” Flahive says. “Track coaches are really perceptive, and they saw that I had a lot of good marks.”

And though Flahive has been blessed with athletic success all her life, it hasn’t always come easy for the track star, who had to handle unforeseen injuries and learn new technical events in college.

A series of hamstring injuries prevented Flahive from competing in the pentathlon during her freshman and sophomore years.

This, however, would be a blessing in disguise.

Flahive was told by assistant coaches Will Thomas and Matt Chisam that lost time would not prevent her from winning, as long as she regained confidence. Touching on all five events just once a week, Flahive adopted Thomas’ “less is more” mantra.

“[Coach Thomas] said that you can only get so good technically at an event when you’re training for five different events,” Flahive says. “We train mainly for our endurance and speed. He tells us that when it’s game time, we just have to compete, and it’s really all about confidence.”

With the indoor season close to wrapping up and the outdoor season on the near horizon, Flahive will have a few more opportunities to show her abilities on the track.

But the talented athlete doesn’t want her accomplishments on the track to be her only legacy.

“I hope that people will look at me as someone who’s competed through a lot of injuries and brought it together her senior year,” Flahive says. “I want to help the younger kids understand what the program is really about. It’s not about them, it’s about the whole team.”

Next year, Flahive will bring her competitive spirit and unmatched work ethic to a Boston-based consulting firm, Cambridge Associates, but don’t expect her to hang up her spikes just yet.

“I’m staying in Boston and considering continuing to train as a hurdler,” Flahive says. “It’ll be great to stick around and stay involved with the program. We’re just going up from here. It’s just getting started.”

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.