Thomas runs 22.88 in 200 to lead Harvard women

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

NEW YORK CITY -- The Ivy League Indoor Championships have been around for a long time, but the meet has never seen sprints quite like this. 

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Gabrielle Thomas of Harvard, who turned heads in 2016 with a breakout freshman season that saw her place third at the NCAA Championships in the 200 meters and then take sixth at the U.S. Olympic Trials, was the center of attention on a boisterous Sunday at The Armory. 

Thomas blitzed the field in the 60-meter dash in 7.31 seconds a day after breaking the meet record in the prelims with 7.29. That race was a tune up for the 200 meters, which came later. 

Thomas clocked 22.88 seconds for a new indoor PR and became the first Ivy League woman to break 23 seconds indoors. (Thomas ran 22.47 outdoors in 2016). 

She also ran a leg on Harvard's winning 4x400 relay (3:42.02) and placed fifth in the long jump (19-3.50). 

Thomas' wins, plus a fourth consecutive win in the shot put for Nikki Okwelogu (54-2.50/16.52m), a 5,000-meter victory for freshman Judy Pendergast, and more points throughout the lineup, gave the Crimson women their fifth straight team title.

Harvard scored 129 points. Penn was second with 109 1/3 points and Columbia was third with 97 1/3.

"There are so many weekends where we're all dispersed across the country, we're all doing different things. So when we all come together and we all compete as one, it's such a huge team and it means so many different things to so many different people," Thomas said. "We're all cheering each other on and it's one of the best things ever."

The 200 is a relatively new event at the Heps, but the men's final will long be remembered for Calvary Rogers of Penn racing only the clock and coming away with a meet record 21.39 seconds. 

It was supposed to be a four-person second section of the 200-meter final. But two of the athletes, including defending champion Carrington Akosa of Princeton, did not make it to the starting line because of injuries sustained in the 60. And then Cornell's Jonathan Avery was disqualified with an ill-timed false start.

With four times already on the board from the first section, Rogers had the track to himself. He needed to run faster than 21.68 to win and 21.54 to break the meet record. He got both.

"It was crazy," Rogers said of the season-best time and meet record. "It was such a long year with everything. It was probably one of the most emotional moments of my entire life. I felt like all odds were against me and I just made it happen."

The Princeton-Cornell stranglehold on the top of the standings at Heps continued. One or the other has won the past 20 meets. This time, Princeton scored 147 points and Cornell had 101. 

Yale, which won the distance medley relay, finished fourth with 78 points -- its  most since 1991. Rob Napolitano anchored Columbia to the 4x800 win on the Lions' home track.

Chris Hatler (mile) and Nick Tuck (5,000) won big distance races for Penn. Myles Marshall moved out to a big lead in the 800 and held on to win it for Harvard in 1:48.98.