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Track and Field Looks to Defend Titles at Fourth-Annual Battle of Beantown
Nicole Cochran and the Crimson will begin its title defense Friday at the Battle of Beantown (Harvard Athletic Communications).
The Particulars
The Harvard men's and women's track and field teams look to defend their titles at the fourth-annual Battle of Beantown Friday at Gordon Indoor Track. The Crimson will take on local rivals Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern in the quad-meet.
Last Year's Battle
The men captured the meet win for the second year in a row, posting a score of 166 to top Boston University (119), Boston College (117) and Northeastern (102). The women dethroned two-time defending champion Boston College with a final score of 137, besting the Eagles (131), Huskies (121) and Terriers (118) for their first title at the event.
The men captured six event wins on the afternoon, led by freshman Kenneth Wang Kan who won the long jump (6.93 meters) and triple jump (14.37), posting an IC4A qualifying mark in the latter. Senior Jack Brady's 17.90-meter toss in the weight throw was good for first and a new meet record, and freshman Jeremy Gilmour won the 3,000 with a time of 8:39.68. Junior Brian Hill and senior Justin Grinstead finished one-two in the 500 with IC4A qualifying times of 1:03.97 and 1:04.94, respectively. The 4x440-yard relay team earned Harvard's final event win and John Dingus (400, 48.68), Steven Geloneck (60, 6.95) and Darcy Wilson (800, 1:52.07) all came in second and posted IC4A qualifying marks in their respective events.
The women took three event wins on the afternoon, starting with Olivia Weeks' win in the triple jump with a mark of 11.96 meters. Carlyle Davis won the 500 with a meet record time of 1:13.60 and the 4x440-yard relay team posted an ECAC qualifying mark of 3:51.13 to take the win. Freshman Ashtynn Baltimore placed second in the 60-meter hurdles, but posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.43 in the process.
Last Time Out
The Crimson had a select few athletes participate in a trio of meets last weekend. Four Harvard multi-event athletes participated in the Harvard multi-meet, led by Christine Reed's fifth-place finish in the pentathlon. Nicole Sliva and Mary Hirst placed seventh and eighth, respectively, and Jacques Barjon took 10th in the men's heptathlon.
Kailyn Kuzmuk ran an 18th-place time of 17:13.90 in the 5,000 at the Terrier Invitational and Michael Hoffman fronted a trio of Crimson men in the mile with a time of 4:14.67, good for 26th place overall. The Harvard throwing corps also competed in a meet at Bowdoin Saturday.
Scouting the Field
Boston University had a strong showing as the host of last weekend's Terrier Invitational with 12 athletes posting ECAC/IC4A-qualifying marks. On the women's side, Shelby Walton broke a 31-year-old school record in the 200 with a time of 23.95 and won the 60 with an ECAC mark of 7.58. For the men, R.J. Page posted two IC4A marks in the 60 (6.97) and 200 (21.76) and Joel Senick won the 400 in 47.65. Mile runners Matt Paulson (4:07.04) and Joe Greenspun (4:10.17) both qualified for IC4As with their performance at the Terrier Invitational.
Boston College also had a number of solid marks at the Terrier Invitational last weekend, led by high-jumper Jon Bogosian, who won the event with a clearance of 2.03 meters. Ian Thomas took second in the 1,000 in 2:25.63 for an IC4A mark and Daniel Kane ran a personal-best 4:14.56 in the mile to qualify for IC4As as well. The distance medley relay team of Caroline King, Siobhan Breagy, Madeline Wallace and Jillian King highlighted the women's efforts as the quartet took the event title and posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 11:28.28.
The Northeastern men have captured wins in both scored events it has competed in this season, including last weekend's Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center. Rookie Eric Jenkins earned a win in the mile with an IC4A-qualifying time of 4:11.90 and classmate Kaylin Miranda won his second-straight long jump event with a leap of 7.23 meters. On the women's side, Nia Howard had a stellar showing at the Boston Indoor Games, winning the long jump with a leap of 5.94 meters as well as the 55-meter dash in a time of 7.18.
On the Horizon
The Battle of Beantown represents the last of four competitions held this season at Gordon Indoor Track. Up next for the Crimson is the annual HYP Meet in New Haven, Conn., Feb. 12.
