
Harvard welcomes seven freshmen women and 13 men to its
ranks in 2010 (David Silverman).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard cross country team announced 20 freshmen will join the roster for the 2010 season. The Crimson opens its season Sept. 18 at the Iona Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park in New York and has a total of seven scheduled meets in 2010.
"I am incredibly excited about both our men's and women's incoming classes," said Jason Saretsky, Director of Harvard Track and Field and Cross Country. "We bring in a great mix of middle distance and distance women who should be able to contribute to our program and our men's class boasts three runners who have broken the nine-minute mark in the two mile event, which should rank it as one of the best freshman classes in the nation."
The Harvard men placed sixth at the 2009 Ivy League Championships and turned in a 10th-place finish at the IC4A Championships. Daniel Chenoweth ’11 captured the individual Ivy League title and represented the Crimson at the NCAA Championships. The women placed fifth at the league championships and ninth at ECACs and had three runners, Claire Richardson ’11, Kailyn Kuzmuk ’12 and Sammy Silva ’13, earn all-region accolades. Both the men and the women received USTFCCCA team all-academic honors in 2009.
Here is a look at the Harvard cross country class of 2014:
MEN
James Leakos, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/Holy Cross
Served as captain of the cross country team …
Three-time team MVP in cross country and track … Two-time
qualifier for world junior cross country championships …
Captured four provincial championships in cross country and the
3,000-meter run and three in the 1,500-meter run … Recipient
of the Senior Chemistry Award.
Kurt Ruegg, Yountville, Calif./Napa
Named cross country MVP as a freshman and a sophomore
… Received all-league cross country honors all four years
and all-league track honors as a junior and a senior … Named
to the all-state freshman and sophomore teams and was the
Monticello Empire League (MEL) cross country champion his final
three years … Named to the All-West cross country third team
as a junior and second team as a senior … Section runner of
the year as a senior and San-Joaquin section champion …
Footlocker finalist … Ran fastest 5k time, 15:34, at the
Standford Invitational.
Maksim Korolev, Harrisonville,
Mo./Harrisonville
Gatorade Missouri Runner of the Year and Kansas City
Metro Runner of the Year 2009-10 … Named to the All-Midwest
second-team in 2009 … All-state in cross country all four
years and all-state in track as a sophomore, junior and senior
… Earned all-state recognition in both the 1,600 and
3,200-meter events.
Aaron Watanabe, Norwich, Vt./Hanover
Member of the cross country and track and field teams at
Hanover and served as captain of both squads as a senior …
Named cross country team MVP and all-state as a junior and senior
… Recorded personal best time of 4:18.00 in the 1,600-meter
run and 8:59.43 in the 3,200-meter run … New Hampshire Class
J all-star and Union Leader all-state as a senior …
Also garnered all-star status in track as a junior and a senior and
named team MVP as a senior … Hanover High School co-athlete
of the year as a senior … Class valedictorian and National
Merit Scholar.
Kellen Blumberg, San Diego, Calif./Patrick Henry
Ran track and cross country at Patrick Henry and
captained both teams as a junior and senior … Named All-CIF
for cross country and helped team to Division I championship in
2008 … Named to the Union Tribune Cross Country
All-Academic team in 2008 and named a captain and Runner of the
Year in 2009 … Captured the Division II individual title and
helped squad to team title in 2009 … Recorded a time of
15:12 in the 5K and 9:17 in the 3,200 meter run … Enjoys
pool basketball, boogie boarding, eating and spending time with
family … Cousin, Sean Zanderson, graduated from Notre Dame
in 2001, ran cross country for the Irish and is now sponsored by
Movin’ Shoes Addidas.
Tyler Cusick, Westfield, N.J./Westfield
Member of the cross country and track and field teams at
Westfield, serving as captain of the cross country team as a senior
… Named to the all-county cross country team in 2008 and
2009 … Also named to the all-county indoor and outdoor track
teams in the 800-meter run and the all-area indoor track team in
2010 … Helped cross country team to group IV state
championship and led cross country and track teams to five county
championships … Male valedictorian and National AP
Scholar.
Peter Dolan, Mass./Xaverian Brothers
Member of the track and field and cross country teams at
Xaverian Brothers and captained both squads as a senior …
Cross country team MVP in 2007, named a Catholic Conference cross
country all-star in 2006 and 2007 and a tri-county league all star
in 2009 … Catholic Conference outdoor track all-star in 2008
and 2009 … Part of the state champion 4x800-meter relay team
and helped cross country team to league titles in 2006 and
2007.
Paul Koullick, Golden Valley, Minn/Blake School
Member of the cross country and swimming teams at Blake
and served as captain of both squads as a senior … Claimed
an individual state title in 2009 and was the state cross country
runner-up in 2010 … Helped cross country team to state
championship in 2009 … Led swimming team to state
championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010 … Enjoys windsurfing,
soccer and chess.
Erik Kraus, Hillsborough, N.C./Durham Academy Upper
Captained the cross country team as a junior and senior
and track and field team as a senior … Holds personal-best
times of 1:56.00 in the 800-meter run and 50.80 in the 400-meter
run … Four-time cross country all-conference and three-time
all-state honoree … Helped team to two conference and state
championships and was named team MVP in 2007 … Four-time
track and field all-conference and all-state honoree and team MVP
as a senior.
Ian Myjer, Mountain View, Calif./Mountain View
Member of the cross country and track and field teams at
Mountain View, serving as captain of both squads as a senior
… Turned in a time of 15:17 at the 2009 California State
Cross Country Meet … Ran a time of 4:16.66 in the
1,600-meter run at the 2010 Central Coast Section finals …
School underclassmen record holder in the 3,200-meter run with a
time of 9:30.00 … Named cross country MVP in 2006 and 2007
and track MVP in 2008 … Received all-county cross country
accolades in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and was named to the All-Northern
California squad in track in 2008 and 2009 … Ran best time,
15:17, at the California Interscholastic Federation State Meet.
Ryan Romain, Rockford, Mich./Rockford
Member of the varsity cross country, track and field and
bowling teams at Rockford … Garnered all-state honors in the
4x400-meter relay as a junior and in the 4x800-meter relay as a
senior … Named all-conference for track and field as a
senior … Part of school record-holding 4x800-meter relay
team (7:49.19) … Class valedictorian.
Jared Sawyer, Unionville, Conn./Farmington
Served as captain of track and field team as a senior
… All-conference track and field honors as a sophomore,
junior and senior and all-state as a junior … School record
holder in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 8:03.20 and Class L
title in the event in 2009.
WOMEN
Kristina Funahashi, Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del
Mar
Served as captain of cross country team as a senior and
captain of the track and field team all four years …
Recipient of team coaches award and top-10 results at league and
state meets … Helped team to cross country state and CIF
finals championships as a senior and 10th-place finish at Nike team
nationals … Ran best 5k time at the California
Interscholastic Federation State Meet finishing in 18:17.
Catherine Hasbrouck, Santa Paula, Calif./Nordhoff
Four-year letterwinner in both track and cross
country and served as captain of both teams as a senior
… Four-time all-league and all-state and two-time all-county
honoree in cross country… Three-time cross country league
champion, scholar-athlete, league all-academic team honoree and
team MVP … Ran best 5k time at the California
Interscholastic Federation State Meet finishing in 18:33 …
Three-time track and field scholar-athlete award recipient …
Division IV champion in the 3,200-meter run as a senior, recording
personal-best time of 10:47.00.
India Peek Jensen, Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake
Served as captain of the cross country team as a junior
and senior and captain of the track team as a senior …
Three-time first-team all-conference and all-region selection and
three-time state finalist in cross country … Named to the
all-state cross country team as a freshman and a senior and the
academic all-state cross country team as a senior … State
finalist and all-region track and field selection as a sophomore
… Helped cross country team to state championship titles as
a freshman and a senior and a regional title as a freshman …
Ran to a time of 19:07.3 at the Michigan State Championship –
Lower Peninsula race.
Alaina Murphy, Seymour, Wisc./Seymour
Two-year captain of basketball and cross country teams
… Four-time all-conference, all-area and state qualifier and
all-state honoree in 2008 … Cross country team MVP all four
years … All-conference basketball player as a sophomore,
junior and senior and team MVP in 2008 … Track team MVP all
four years and all-state and all-conference honoree all four years
… Two-time state champion (4x400-meter relay and 800-meter
run) … Green Bay Press-Gazette female athlete of
the year as a senior … Valedictorian and Thunder Runners
Club scholarship recipient.
Li Murphy, Pocatello, Idaho/Annie Wright
Four-year letterwinner in both track and field and
volleyball … Captained both squads as a junior and a senior
… Four-year state qualifier in track and 2009 state champion
in 400 and 800 meter events.
Natalia Paine, Northampton, Mass./Northampton
Four-year member of soccer, indoor and outdoor track
teams at Northampton … Served as captain of all three teams
as a junior and senior … Republican first-team track and
field every season … Member of the all-star Massachusetts
relay at USATF national indoor meet in 2009 … Holds nine
school individual and relay records and two league records in the
600-meter run and the 4x400-meter relay.