Track & Field Performs Well at East Regional, Sends Eight Athletes to Nationals

The Harvard track and field team competed in 21 events at last week’s NCAA East Region First Round, with four individual athletes and one relay team placing high enough to qualify for the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.

In addition to the qualifications for the national finals, one individual athlete reset her own school record, the women’s 4x100-meter relay team set a school record of its own, and the men’s 4x100-meter relay team set an Ivy League record during its efforts in Lexington, Ky.

On the opening night of the week’s festivities, the men’s division started the action for the Crimson with a mixture of individual preliminary rounds and national semifinals.

Junior Timi Esan — the Ivy League’s all-conditions record holder in the 100-meter — began the action in the 100-meter semifinal, running a 10.41 (39th) that put him just over a tenth of a second behind the qualifying time needed to advance to the regional final.

In the 400-meter, sophomore Harlow Tong finished half a second behind the qualifying time with a 46.33 to finish in 37th place. In his regional competition debut, freshman Oliver Parker ran a personal-best 51.18 in the 400-meter hurdles to take 32nd place in a stacked field, finishing with the sixth-best time in school history.

Later, junior Amari Turner — who won the 200-meter at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships in March — finished the outdoor counterpart with a 20.82 to take 29th place in the event.

In the last race of the day, Harvard heated up as junior Charlie Ortmans — the Ivy League Champion in the men’s 10,000 meters — finished in 11th place with a time of 28:53.00 to qualify for the national championships, while fellow junior Sam Burgess finished in 13th with his time of 29:08.89, making him the first athlete left off the qualifying list for nationals.

On the second day of the meet, the women’s division took its turn, starting with Abby Dennis in the 100-meter hurdles. The sophomore — who set the school record in the event in her preliminary victory at the Ivy League Championships two weeks ago — reset her own program record by four hundredths of a second with her time of 13.32 to finish 28th. Dennis also finished 46th in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.65.

In the field, junior Marta Amani opened the action with a distance of 6.00 meters in the long jump to finish 24th, while sophomore Tyler Glover followed her up with a throw of 16.34 meters in the shot put to finish 20th. Sophomore Ella McRitchie closed the field events by clearing 4.22 meters in the pole vault as she narrowly missed the qualifying height on a tiebreaker to finish 20th.

Closing the night, sophomore Ella Cooper — the Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete at the Ivy League Outdoor Championships — ran both the 100-meter and 200-meter, finishing 29th in the 100-meter with her time of 11.42 before finishing 25th in the 200-meter with her time of 23.24.

On Friday, the third day of competition, the men had a trio of qualifications for the national championships as well as various other results, beginning with the high jump.

After winning the 2026 NCAA Indoor National Championship in the event in March, junior Tito Alofe cleared 2.16 meters on his third and final attempt in the high jump to finish in the top 10, securing his spot in the national final later this month. Alofe has qualified for all six national championships during his three-year career, and he’s looking to be the 19th athlete in NCAA history to win both the indoor and outdoor national titles in the same season.

In the next event, the 4x100-meter relay team — consisting of senior Jonas Clarke, sophomore LeRoy Horton, Esan, and Turner — crushed the Ivy League record in the event by running a 38.90, finishing in 11th place and sending the team to the national championships for the first time in school history.

Freshman Joachim Johnson took 35th place in the triple jump with a distance of 14.99 meters, ending his debut season after winning the Ivy League crown in the event two weeks ago.

Ending the night in the 5,000 meters, a trio of Crimson athletes placed in the top 20, with Ortmans once again qualifying for the national championships after placing seventh with a 13:41.79. Freshman Tam Gavenas finished 15th after running a 13:57.17, while Burgess finished in 20th with a 14:02.38.

Harvard’s women closed the competition with five events on the final day of the meet, and once again, multiple athletes performed well enough to continue their seasons.

In the first event of the afternoon, sisters Nadjela and Milina Wepiwé competed in the discus, with freshman Nadjela placing ninth on her throw of 54.82 meters to qualify for the national championships. Junior Milina — who was a 2024 first-team All-American in the event — finished in 26th with a throw of 51.21 meters.

The 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of senior Mfoniso Andrew, junior Mickaila Haisley, sophomore Saige Forbes, and Cooper, finished 20th with a time of 44.17, a new school record that ranks second all-time in the Ancient Eight.

Freshman Dylan McElhinney — who entered the 1500-meter with the 33rd-highest time of all qualifiers — ran a swift 4:11.89 to finish in 11th place and qualify for the national championships. The New York, N.Y., native is the third athlete in school history to qualify for the national championships in the event.

Senior Molly Malague concluded her Crimson tenure by placing 16th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:05.43, finishing just short of the qualifying time.

Harvard ended its week at the NCAA East Region First Round with the women’s 4x400-meter relay team, and the quartet of senior Jacklynn Okereke, Amani, Andrew, and Cooper finished in 21st place with a time of 3:34.41.

The Crimson will send its eight qualifying athletes to Eugene, Ore., from June 10-13 to compete in the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in hopes of securing its next national title.

— Staff writer Connor Castañeda can be reached at [email protected].