Track and Field Posts Strong Finishes at Cardinal Classic and Sean Collier Invite

Heading down to Stanford University for the Cardinal Classic, the Harvard track and field team proved no record is safe, nearing Ancient Eight record marks and breaking school records throughout the two-day meet. In addition, several teammates remained in Boston on the weekend, traveling down the street to the Sean Collier Invite at MIT.

With two weeks until the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, the group has only a single weekend to prepare before their make or break divisional championship bout.

CARDINAL CLASSIC

Doing just as well on the west coast as they tend to do on the east, the group of Harvard sprinters had a standout weekend. Leading off for the team was the women’s 4x100-meter relay team, which grabbed the gold in their event. The quartet, finishing in 44.87 seconds and ahead of both Florida State and Colorado, now holds the second fastest time in the history of the conference.

Sophomore sprinter Gabby Thomas racked up yet another gold medal on the weekend, though not running her trademark 200-meter race but the shorter variant, finishing the 100-meter in 11.39 seconds. The first place finish is Thomas’ second in the event this season. The Indoor National Championships qualifier didn’t stop with just that single gold. Thomas achieved a silver in long jump with the furthest jump in program history, marked at 6.27 meters. The winner of the event, Jogaile Petrokaite of Florida State, landed only .03 meters in front of Thomas and fouled on the other five of her jumps. Freshman jumper Simi Fajemisin rounded out the group finishing third with a 6.15-meter leap. Coincidentally, before this weekend, that jump would have also broken the school record.

Another gold-medalist for the women’s team was senior Jade Miller. The veteran finished the 400-meter hurdles in 57.43 seconds, nearly 3 seconds ahead of her closest collegiate competitor, Eriana Henderson of Colorado, who crossed the finish line at 60.13. In the men’s variant of the event, freshman hurdler Jacob McLennan posted a time of 53.19 to just miss a medal, finishing in seventh place.

In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, freshmen Livia Gauntlett and Karina Joiner both achieved personal records. Joiner finished fourth and Gauntlett sixth. The times represent the sixth and ninth best in Harvard history, respectively, and are both in the top-15 times in Ancient Eight history.

“There is an abundance of talent in the team and alongside the great work ethic, we have the ability to perform competitively through until the Ivy League championships in May,” Guantlett said. “We must not become complacent, but this season should be an exciting one.”

For men’s co-captain Julian Nunally, the day was one of all bronze. The senior grabbed third place in both the shot put and discus throw. In the former, Nunally tossed the shot 16.88 meters on his fifth throw of the day. Freshman teammate Gunnar Allison also earned a medal in the event with sixth place finish and a throw of 14.04 meters. In discus, the co-captain grabbed his second bronze medal of the weekend with a toss of 52.46 meters, placing behind two Florida State throwers.

The men’s throwers weren’t the only group of men’s athletes racking up top-three medals for the team, the jumpers contributed their fair share. In triple jump, co-captain Efe Uwaifo mirrored his classmate and took a bronze medal of his own. In his second jump on the day, the senior leaped 15.36 meters to finish less than a meter behind both of the Florida State jumpers that placed ahead of him. Freshman Donagh Mahon broke his own record in a season best jump of 2.08 meters in the high jump. The leap earned him a fourth place finish in the event.

SEAN COLLIER INVITE

Just a couple miles from their dorms, another group of Harvard athletes braved the inclement weather at the Sean Collier Invite, hosted by MIT, to compete on Saturday.

Bagging two silver medals, the group did not leave the meet empty handed. Headlining for the team was junior middle distance runner Jonas Aranda. Taking on the 800-meter dash in a field of 39, Aranda crossed the line in second place with a time of 1:54.30. The finish was only .26 seconds behind the gold medalist, Connor Murphy from Merrimack. Behind Aranda was teammate, freshman Zach Manickas-Hill. The freshman claimed the sixth place position after completing his two laps in 2:01.34.

The second silver came at the hands, or feet rather, of sophomore Garret Rouser. Running in the 400-meter hurdles, Rouser finished his second place race in 57.05 seconds.

From here, the entire track and field team looks towards the Heptagonal Championships. The women’s team will compete for their fourth consecutive outdoor Ivy League championship while the men look to improve on last year’s sixth place finish. At the Indoor Heptagonal Championships

“The main difference from indoor and outdoor for field events is that indoor season is a preparation for the outdoor,” said Nunally, who placed fourth in shot put at the indoors. “Once we get to outdoor season, we change our lifting plan so that we are ready to make big throws.”

—Staff writer Cade Palmer can be reached at cade.palmer@thecrimson.com.