Heptagonals Track & Field

As a junior at Harvard, Samyr Laine was atop the Ivy triple jump world, beating future NCAA champions Rayon Taylor and Muhammad Halim at both Indoor and Outdoor Heps. What else is supposed to happen for someone whose first name means “always onward and upward” in Arabic?

After injuries robbed him of a productive senior season, finding a silver lining to the setback would prove difficult at the time. But it did open another door… one that would lead to Doha, Qatar, via Port au Prince, Haiti.

Forced to sit out his final outdoor season at Harvard, Laine, who grew up in Newburgh, N.Y., was able to enroll in graduate school at the University of Texas with one semester of athletic eligibility remaining. It was there that he met Nadine Faustin-Parker, a Haitian hurdler whose husband, Anthony Parker, served as the coach of the Haitian Olympic track and field squad.

Once it got out that Laine’s parents, Jacques and Evelyne, were both born in Haiti, the Parkers put him in touch with Haitian officials and soon, after earning a graduate degree from UT, he was named to the national team.

And then his leaps and bounds grew by leaps and bounds. Last summer he soared more than 57 feet to establish a Haitian national record and advance to the World Championships in Berlin. This week, the Georgetown law student and volunteer coach at George Mason is ready for his second stab at Worlds, the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Doha, where he will begin competition on Friday (at 6:20 am on the East Coast).

“I’ve never intended on truly making a living from track and field so my post-collegiate pursuits have been driven mostly by a quest for personal excellence,” said Laine.

Until January. That’s when Haiti was devastated by the earthquake. All of his family members in Haiti survived, but the impact has been great.

“I’ve really realized what it means to represent the country. It is certainly not about myself but instead about providing Haiti with some positive exposure on the international front,” said Laine, one of just two Haitians competing in Doha. “I’ve personally realized that I’m not competing just for myself anymore but for the nation as a whole… as grandiose as that may sound.

“As an international representative for Haiti, I’ve been received with nothing but support and blessings. Since I’ve been in Doha actually, every new person I have met has asked about how things are in Haiti and apologized for the fact that the country has to deal with such devastation on top of the fact that things were difficult there even before the disaster. It is all pretty encouraging and heartwarming to see that people seem to care so much and have no problem expressing that empathy.”

Laine, by the way, is a close follower of Heps Track and is a prolific blogger himself. In fact, he has posted a Pre-Worlds update just today. Check out the entire website as he does a great job with it.

He also wants everyone to keep Haiti in their thoughts and to consider his charity of choice — Yéle Haiti. You can make donations by clicking here.

2010 Virginia Tech Challenge – Final Jump from Samyr Laine on Vimeo.

Three Ivy Leaguers — all sophomores from Columbia University — have gotten the nod to compete at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend.

Indoor Heps Athlete of the Meet Sharay Hale will compete in the 400-meter dash, Monique Roberts (pictured) in the high jump and Kyle Merber in the mile. Hale’s Heps flat-track time in the 400m converted to 53.09 for ranking purposes, which places her 10th. Roberts cleared 5-11 1/2 earlier in the season, which is ranked 15th. Click here for the complete women’s entries.

Merber, who became the Heps recordholder in the indoor mile last week, is the lone Ivy male representative at the Championships. He is ranked sixth in the 16-person field. Truly remarkable is that all 16 have run sub-four this winter! For the men’s complete entry list, please click here.

For the schedule of events in Arkansas, please click here. All three Light Blue athletes will begin competition on Friday.

Kyle Merber, the news-making sophomore from Columbia, is at the center of an emerging mile revolution in the United States. In fact, already this year a record 18 Americans have recorded their first sub-4 mile and, at least here in Indianapolis, we have remnants of snow still on the ground.

Track & Field News has updated its list of U.S. sub-fours and it turns out that Merber became the 343rd American to do it and, from our preliminary research, the 11th 17th such Ivy Leaguer Heps athlete (thanks to Nathan Taylor and Greg Page). Review this list and let me know if you spot others.

Merber’s 3:58.52 on Friday is the fastest first sub-four among Heps runners as a collegian since April 27, 1974, when Denis Fikes of Penn was faster at the Penn Relays! That’s Denis, now known as D. Elton Cochran-Fikes, pictured.

Also, a little praise of Bill Burke’s Heps indoor record which lasted more than 19 years. Burke won the Millrose Games by going sub-four on the small wooden track in Madison Square Garden… without a rabbit. Princeton Coach Fred Samara still calls it “one of the all time great collegiate miles.”

Here is the Ivy sub-four roster as I know it:

68. Denis Fikes (Penn), 3:55.0 [Philadelphia: April 27, 1974]
69. Karl Thornton (Penn^), 3:57.9 [Philadelphia: April 27, 1974]
90. Craig Masback (Princeton^), 3:59.6 [Oxford: June 17, 1978]
133. Adam Dixon (Harvard), 3:59.39 [Luxembourg: July 20, 1983]
139. Cliff Sheehan (Harvard), 3:59.2 [Philadelphia: April 27, 1985]
167. Greg Whiteley (Brown), 3:59.15 [Westwood: June 10, 1989]
173. Bill Burke (Princeton), 3:58.70 i [New York: Feb. 1, 1991]
177. Bill Rathbun (Cornell^), 3:59.94 i [Boston: Feb. 16, 1991]
191. Ronnie Harris (Navy^), 3:58.03 [Eugene: June 5, 1993]
192. Bob Lesko (Yale^), 3:58.23 [Eugene: June 5, 1993]
212. Dan Browne (Army), 3:59.37 i [Annapolis: Feb. 1, 1997]
219. Darin Shearer (Harvard^), 3:59.76 [Falmouth: Aug. 16, 1997]
227. Scott Anderson (Princeton^), 3:59.80 [Brunswick: July 4, 1998]
261. Aaron Lanzel (Navy^), 3:59.88 [Eugene: June 19, 2004]
296. Ben True (Dartmouth), 3:59.99 [Cambridge: June 17, 2007]
315. Liam Boylan-Pett (Columbia^), 3:59.40 i [University Park: Jan. 31, 2009]
343. Kyle Merber (Columbia), 3:58.52 i [New York: March 5, 2010]

^ Indicates that they managed their first sub-four after college. The ‘i’ following the time indicates that the debut sub-four was achieved indoors.

Four of the first five runners mentioned in the USATF’s post-race coverage of the NACAC Cross Country Championships from Tobago were former Ivy League performers. Here’s the opening graphs of story (with schools replacing the city of the participant):

Delilah DiCrescenzo (Columbia) and Max King (Cornell) each won the individual open women’s and men’s titles to lead Team USA to the respective open team titles Saturday at the sixth annual North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association Cross Country Championships at the Mt. Irvine Resort in Tobago.

The NACAC Championships contested races for the open men’s 8k, open women’s 6k, junior men’s 6k and junior women’s 4k.

King took charge early to win the open men’s 8 km in 23 minutes, 49 seconds, leading the U.S. squad to a perfect score of 10 points. Michael Spence (Princeton) finished 17 seconds behind King for the runner-up position while Bobby Mack and Thomas Kloos (Columbia) rounded out the scoring places for Team USA, running 24:26 and 24:34 for third and fourth-place respectively.

(Hat tip: Mary Boggs)

Princeton freshman Tory Worthen managed a number of things in one fell swoop at the ECAC Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center in Boston, Mass., today. She became a champion in her Easterns debut by clearing the bar at 13-5 3/4 in the pole vault. And that mark was not just a meet record, it was the highest indoor clearance ever in the Ivy League, a half-inch higher than Yale’s Molly Lederman achieved at Indoor Heps in 2006. Early this season Worthen had joined Lederman as just the second Leaguer over the 13-foot barrier indoor.

Worthen wasn’t the lone Ivy champion from Easterns this weekend as the Harvard men’s distance medley relay won the IC4A title at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center, finishing in 9:44.18. We presume that that team consisted of the same foursome that qualified for the final on Saturday, but the lineups were not posted on the results. Saturday’s runners were freshmen Jeremy Gilmour and Jeff Homer followed by juniors Brian Hill and Dan Chenoweth.

Penn senior Jamie Massarelli won the 500-meter championship in 1:12.68 ahead of second-place finisher Claudia Duncan of Yale. Massarelli also moved into second-place on Penn’s all-time event list, behind only Jesse Carlin. And it was Carlin who was Penn’s last ECAC champ, winning the same event in 2006.

Along with the three champions, Duncan was one of four Leaguers to post runner-up finishes on Sunday. Cornell sophomore Chase Aaronson was second in the 55-meter dash (6.35), beating Heps sprint champion Connor Reilly of Dartmouth in the final. Another Big Red standout — rookie mid-distance star Nick Wade — was second in the 800-meter run (1:50.68). Yale junior Kate Grace was also second in the 800, finishing behind Temple’s Victoria Gocht in 2:08.72.

Full results for the two Eastern Championships: Men | Women

UPDATE: In all the excitement of Columbia’s Kyle Merber breaking the four-minute mile on Friday at the New York Armory, we didn’t immediately recognize that Harvard’s Brian Hill had a brilliant performance in the 800-meter run. The junior from Oradell, N.J., became just the second Crimson runner to ever break 1:50, finishing with a time of 1:49.96. That was just 7/100ths of a second shy of the school record set by Brad Bunney in 1984. Hill’s time was an NCAA Provisional mark and about a second from the Championships’ automatic qualifier. Thanks to Mary Boggs for keeping me honest on this one!

As Easterns advance to Day 2, Ivy Leaguers are poised to stand on the awards podium in a number of events. In fact, some already have.

On the men’s side, taking place at Boston University, Cornell senior Richard Zamora took second in the pole vault with a clearance of 16-0 3/4. The highest finisher on the women’s side, contested at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, has been Brown senior Ariel Wright, who claimed second in the 5,000-meter run in 16:32.80. Cornell senior Stephanie Pancoast was fourth in that event at 16:41.69.

Harvard’s young distance medley relay foursome of Darcy Wilson, Jeff Homer, Brian Paison and Jeremy Gilmour was the fastest qualifier in the event, finishing in 9:52.66. In that same event, Penn and Brown also recorded top five times to move into Sunday’s final. The highest-ranked individual qualifier was Cornell freshman Nick Wade, whose 1:50.09 in the 800-meter run was second best. And after the first day of the heptathlon, Heps champ Joshua Kirkpatrick, a senior at Cornell, sits atop the standings at 2,954.

Penn senior Jamie Massarelli was the top qualifier in the 500-meter dash for the women, running 1:13.18, which was well ahead of the others. Seniors Claudia Duncan of Yale and Natalie Stoll of Dartmouth were also among the top four advancers in the event. Cornell senior Kim Standridge was the No. 2 qualifier in the 800-meter run (2:08.17) while Penn sophomore Leah Brown was third in semifinals of the 60-meter dash (7.63). Princeton senior Thanithia Billings was third in the final of the shot put with a best of 47-1 3/4.

Day one for results: Men | Women

UPDATE: Kyle Merber’s father, Mitch, has uploaded the entire race and a brief interview. See below. Additionally, HepsTrack.com has been getting emails telling us that there are reports that Ben True of Dartmouth ran sub-four indoors, citing a time of 3:59.99. True ran that time outdoor in 2007.

Columbia sophomore Kyle Merber broke the four-minute mile and set the Heps record in the process, running a stunning 3:58.52 at the Columbia Last Chance meet at the New York City Armory today. He became just the second Heps athlete to ever go sub-four indoor, joining Princeton’s Bill Burke, who clocked a 3:58.70 in 1991.

Merber — a native of Dix Hills, N.Y., and a graduate of Half Hollow Hills West High School — won the race, but three others also ran under 4:00.

Merber got back to us tonight, writing, “Crossing the finish line and looking up at the clock was an unbelievable feeling. That moment was everything that I could have dreamed of and more. The fact that I was able to break such a barrier at this point of my career is beyond my wildest dreams. Running at our own home meet in front of all my teammates and my parents made this experience that much more valuable. I really owe a lot of thanks to my coaches, all my teammates and everyone that has supported and helped me reach this point. Right now I am just excited to be able to get a chance to compete on the national level and represent our program, Columbia, and the Ivy League.”

Updated all-time top Heps milers indoor
3:58.52, Kyle Merber (Columbia, 2010)
3:58.70, Bill Burke (Princeton, 1991)
4:00.05, Bill Rathbun (Cornell, 1990)
4:00.37, Neville Davey (Brown, 1998)
4:00.43, Michael Maag (Princeton, 2008)

Additionally, the Lion women dipped under 3:40 in the 4×400m relay, also setting a Heps all-time record. Columbia’s foursome of Kyra Caldwell, Yamira Bell, Kristen Houp and Sharay Hale clocked 3:38.04, running pretty much alone. That broke the League record of a 2005 Cornell team by more than two seconds.

Dan and Dana Grossman have started to post thousands of photos from last weekend’s Indoor Heptagonal Championships at Leverone Field House. Dan has been snapping Heps photos and Dana has been organizing and uploading them for years now.

Don’t just visit their website — Maple Leaf Photos — but take a moment to email them a note of appreciation.

Today HepsTrack.com had a chat with a former Heps athlete who will be making his way to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, which will take place from March 12-14 in the ASPIRE Dome, the world’s largest indoor sports facility. (Note: I have not independently measured them, I am taking their word on it!)

That athlete — who will we name a little later — is currently in France and will try to be in touch with us as events transpire at the Aspire.

Couple of quick facts:

• Doha — which is awash in the orange signs of the World Championships — is Qatar’s capital and about 70 percent of the country’s inhabitants live there.
• Doha is expecting athletes from 150 countries, which would be a record for the event.
• The ASPIRE Dome, built to support the Asia Games in 1995, houses a soccer stadium, a track-and-field arena, a swimming stadium, eight fencing pistes, two sports halls, three martial arts arenas, 13 table tennis courts and two squash courts.

Here’s the video:

This weekend the IC4A and ECAC Championships will take place in Boston, Mass., with the men taking stage at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center and the women showcasing at the Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center on the campus of Roxbury Community College.

Both events will feature mostly trials on Saturday and a full slate of finals on Sunday. We know that you can follow the IC4A men along at Lancer Timing. The women’s entries are here and there are pending links to results here (not sure if the intention is to frequently update or just post at the end of the day). HepsTrack will not be covering the meet as it unfolds, but will provide an end-of-day synopsis.

Click here for the men’s schedule.
Click here for the women’s schedule.