PHOTOS BY CHASE W. MCCANN, NICHOLAS T. JACOBSSON, AND SARAH G. ERICKSON — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHERS
CRIMSON SPORTS SUPERLATIVES
YEAR IN SPORTS STAFF
SPORTS CHAIRS
Praveen Kumar ’26
Jo B. Lemann ’26
DESIGN CHAIRS
Catherine H. Feng ’27
Xinyi C. Zhang ’27
MULTIMEDIA CHAIRS
Jina H. Choe ’26
Briana Howard Pagán ’26
SPORTS DESIGN EDITOR
Saketh Sundar ’27
team
In a historic year, women’s sports teams built a network of support SUCCESS FOR WOMEN’S SPORTS
OLYMPIANS
Meet two seniors who shined in Paris and are ready for more success
The photos that defined the season, from the The Crimson multimedia team IN PHOTOS:
Read about how Harvard students brought a booming sport right to campus
The story of the football player’s path to graduation after a life-threatening injury
ATHLETES
Meet four Harvard athletes who have doubled down and play for two teams
Harvard’s family of sailors who are making the sport accessible to all
Crimson Sports seniors reflect on the importance of sports and The Crimson
FROM THE EDITORS: HARVARD ON TOP
In the past few years, college sports has been turned on its head. New name, image, and likeness money poured in as transferring became easier than ever and an NCAA settlement is poised to alter the makeup of collegiate athletics programs across the nation. With all the uncertainty, one thing has remained constant: Harvard athletes are still landing on top.
The 2024-25 season has taken athletes to new places: to Paris for the Olympic Games, Ireland for a hockey tournament, Italy for a soccer exhibition, and Hawaii for the volleyball season opener. Likewise, Harvard’s teams reached new heights, including an NCAA tournament appearance for the women’s basketball and water polo teams, numerous broken records in track and field, and several more Ivy League championships added to the collection.
In many ways, Harvard’s storied athletics program has resisted change — declining to dive into the new world of pay-for-
play — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t looking to improve. In these pages, we tell the story of how Harvard’s successful women’s teams banded together to uplift each other. You’ll hear from the football coach about getting his players into a winning mindset despite a heartbreaking loss and his plan for building a team in a changed recruiting landscape.
You’ll also hear about the figures and teams that shape Harvard’s sports culture — providing excitement for the student body and representing the Crimson at home and on national and international stages. We’ve had the pleasure of speaking to these players, watching them play, and learning about their stories. It’s been an honor to cover the 42 varsity teams at Harvard for The Crimson. 16
PRESIDENT
McKenna E. McKrell ’26
MANAGING EDITOR
Tilly R. Robinson ’26
BUSINESS MANAGER
Jack D. Jassy ’26
ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITORS
Sally E. Edwards ’26
Cam E. Kettles ’26
ASSOCIATE BUSINESS MANAGERS
Claire S. Pak ’26
Matthew G. Pantaleo ’26
Truman Pauley rallies Harvard baseball to an unexpected postseason run
NEAR-NO HITTER
Harvard’s Football Coach prepares for an Ivy Title defense with a new look
PHOTO BY BRIANA HOWARD PAGÁN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Female Athlete of The Year
Harmoni Turner Women’s Basketball
Perfect Harmoni: Turner Turns up for Harvard
By OSCAR E. MERCADO AND SUDHISH M. SWAIN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
The layup left Harmoni Turner’s fingertips with the kind of force that only years of preparation, pain, and persistence can produce. After Turner was initially denied from receiving the inbound, she gained separation for an outlet pass and raced past the Boston College defenders. As the ball dropped through, the Harvard bench erupted, drowning Turner with cheers.
In that moment, Turner had broken the program’s single game scoring record.
And it wasn’t a blowout game against a bottom-tier team either. She did it against a battle-tested ACC opponent, on her home court, in front of teammates she calls sisters and fans who witnessed her ascension from freshman phenom to generational force.
Do You Trust Me?
Long before she was rewriting Harvard’s record books, Turner was just another five-year-old with a ball in her hands — and little sense of the legacy she’d one day build.
“I wasn’t the best at basketball,” Turner said.
It took years of grit and growth, but her father, Rocky Turner, saw something in her early on that she didn’t yet see in herself. After
getting cut from her fifth grade basketball team — told she was too small, not strong, and not talented enough — Turner was crushed. One night, in the quiet of his home office, her dad asked her a simple question: Do you trust me?
“I wiped away my tears and said yes,” she recalled. “Then he said, ‘What’s to come is going to open up a lot of opportunities, and God is never going to steer you wrong.’”
The moment lit a fire in Turner, who spent countless hours honing her craft and developing a special affection for basketball. Soon, Turner landed on a better team than the one that rejected her. Then came three invitations for Team USA camps. By high school, she was torching opponents for back-to-back 40-point games, willing her team to the playoffs in a loaded district.
Her illustrious high school career netted her a five star rating and ESPN listed her as the No. 42 recruit in the class of 2020. Power-5 programs lined up for Turner, but in a twist that shocked everyone, she spurned them to carve her own path.
Trust in Harvard
Turner never expected to wear Crimson. The allure of a Power-5 program weighed heavy on Turner. When she told her father, who wanted her to go to Harvard, that she wanted to go to another school, he sat Turner down and asked her the same question: Do you trust me?
“I was like damn,” Turner said. “It’s probably one of those moments that I just have to leap with faith and trust him.”
After saying yes, her father told her that “Harvard is going to be the best decision you’ve ever made in your life.”
Once Turner got to Harvard, she still had some doubts about whether it was the right fit.
“I wasn’t in the top 10 or 15 academically in my class, so I really thought that I just wasn’t fit for Harvard. I thought that, honestly, I wasn’t going to make it,” she said.
Her inner circle helped her find confidence, and before long Harvard became a second home for Turner.
Building A Legacy
Turner wasted no time making her mark in Cambridge. She averaged a team-best 15.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. Her electrifying gameplay revitalized a struggling program, and she took home Ivy League Rookie of the Year and All-Ivy Second Team.
Despite the success of her rookie campaign, the Crimson was knocked out by Princeton in the Ivy Madness semifinals. That offseason, the program was shaken to its core when the winningest coach in Ivy League history, Kathy Delaney-Smith, retired from the program.
Most observers expected the Mansfield, TX native to continue her basketball journey somewhere else.
“I personally thought I was going to transfer,” Turner admits. “There was a lot of uncertainty in the air, but something in my gut told me to stay.”
It wasn’t just coaching turnover that sparked the questions. The dawn of name, image and likeness deals brought many lucrative opportunities from Power-5 schools. For a player like Turner, the chance to cash in somewhere else was real.
“There were some numbers,” she said. “If it wasn’t Harvard, I probably would’ve gone.”
Despite the offers, Turner stayed.
“I love my teammates to death,” she said. “I wouldn’t leave them for a bag. I’m going to trust the people in my corner and stick it out through here.”
Sophomore year, Turner formed a formidable partnership with new coach Carrie Moore, leading the team to a 20-win season and a runner-up finish in the Ivy League Tournament.
While she improved her scoring average
to 19.3 points per game, Turner’s junior season proved to be a struggle. A knee injury sustained in a contest against Michigan required surgery and sidelined Turner for a month.
Harvard held a 5-2 record up to that point, but Turner’s injury caused the Crimson to slide to 7-6 before she could lace up again. Coming after the loss of a talented senior class, Harvard declined to an overall 16-12 record and lost in the Ivy Madness semifinal. Despite the lack of team success, Turner remained determined to deliver a championship to Cambridge.
Cementing Her Legacy
Two months before her senior season, Turner led the United States to the gold medal in the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup.
Turner carried the momentum into her finest season in the Crimson uniform, averaging 22.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, along with 2.8 steals per game. By season’s end, Turner won the Ivy League Player of the Year, the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year, and received an honorable mention for AP All-American.
Turner was the driving force behind Harvard’s best season, notching a program record 24 wins that included the first win over a ranked opponent, No. 25 Indiana, of the Coach Moore era. Turner also served as the first line of a top-5 scoring defense nationally.
Despite the amazing regular season, Turner felt slighted that she didn’t get more recognition.
“We haven’t been receiving the eyes that I’ve wanted,” Turner said. “I’ve always been the underdog in my life. It motivates me to continue.”
Before the postseason, Turner acknowledged what she needed to do if she wanted to accomplish her dream of playing professionally.
“My part is to make sure we finish the season strong, which is winning a championship and making a run,” she said.
Turner delivered on her promise, using her triple threat scoring abilities to explode for 44 points in the 70-67 Ivy League Tournament semifinal victory over Princeton and breaking her own school scoring record. The next day she scored 24 points en route to a narrow
74-71 win over Columbia, earning Harvard its first Ivy Madness Championship and a return to March Madness for the first time since 2007. The magical season came to an end in Raleigh, NC with a 64-50 defeat against the No. 7 seeded Michigan State Spartans. In spite of how it ended, she left no doubts in the minds of basketball fans: Turner deserved to be drafted to the WNBA.
On April 14th, her dream came true. Turner heard her name get called by the Las Vegas Aces with the 34th overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. It was a historic moment—not just for Turner, but for Harvard women’s basketball. While she was waived on May 7th and remains a free agent, Turner’s story is far from over. When she walks across the stage at Commencement, it won’t just mark the end of her college career—it will be a testament to resilience, to betting on yourself, and to knowing your story is still being written.
PHOTOS BY SAMUEL A. HA AND SUDHISH M. SWAIN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHERS
CAROLINE MULLAHY
ANNABEL CHILD
Sam King Crowned Male Athlete Of The Year
By KATHARINE A. FORST CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
The best player to ever don a Harvard men’s lacrosse jersey.
A First Team All-American — the team’s first recipient since 1962 — a First Team All-Ivy selection, the second-highest point scorer in Harvard history, a two-time Tewaaraton Award nominee, and the first-ever Tewaaraton Award finalist from Harvard, Sam King’s accolades on the field speak for themselves.
But, what makes him stand out even more as The Crimson’s Male Athlete of the Year is his dedication to his friends, teammates, and school off the field.
King — forthcoming about being on the small side of lacrosse players at just about 5’9” — has adopted an underdog mentality that has rooted his work in being the first player to show up at practice and the last player to leave.
“Being a smaller guy, that has been my mentality. I’m not that athletic, I’m not that big, so I just have to work on some other things which I think forces me to work a little bit harder,” King said.
His dedication doesn’t go unnoticed. A two-time captain for the squad, King’s exemplary leadership positions him as not just the quarterback of the offense where he easily picks apart some of the nation’s most impressive defensive units, but as a leader for
his peers in the locker room as well.
“Being captain comes with responsibility, but I didn’t want to make the mistake of trying to be someone I necessarily wasn’t,” King said. “So, just sticking to who I was and trying to take that responsibility seriously and help guys and help us win.”
Humble beyond compare, what makes King’s brilliance even more striking is his desire to highlight every player but himself. And, that selflessness made the offense hum this season. Looking more cohesive than ever before, King’s one-more attitude made the Crimson’s attack the second-most efficient unit in Division I during the mid-season rankings.
Tallying a career-high six assists at Providence in the first game of the season, King found himself as a facilitator on the offense, deviating from his role as the initiator as he exploited gaps on the defense that resulted from opponents — rightly so — sending the quick slide and double to shut down his unstoppable question mark dodge.
Having a dodge be somewhat synonymous with a player is unheard of in lacrosse, but King has mastered the curl around the left side of the cage. King’s question mark dodge highlights his strengths: his initial dodge behind the cage, ability to re-attack and navigate the pressure of his coverage, and his ability to adapt his dodge based on the over or under-playing of the defensive unit.
Utilizing his explosive first step to hang his
Male Athlete of the Year
Sam King Men’s Lacrosse
defender up behind the cage and gain that separation down the alley, King’s high-IQ shines through as he reads his marks. He also never keeps his head down; he’s always looking for a cutting Jack Speidell or a skip-pass to Miles Botkiss for an outside lefty rip.
It’s textbook perfection.
Yet, King doesn’t simply rely on that one move. He found himself as an outside shooter at times this season, picking up loose balls on the turf, and finishing broken plays from the wings. There was nothing he couldn’t do.
Situating himself more in that feeding role from X, it wasn’t until the team’s game against Marquette that King really popped off as a shooter. With a season-high seven goals on a mere eight shots, King wanted the lacrosse world to know that Harvard was here to stay.
However, to get there, King had to put in the work.
While seemingly linear, the captain’s meteoric rise to stardom started later than most players because he was recruited later in the high school process due to his smaller size. King was initially recruited to play lacrosse at Denver, but when Head Coach Gerry Byrne took the helm of the team in 2019, his first order of business was flipping Sam to a Crimson jersey.
“It was probably one of the first things that we did relative to recruiting,” Byrne said, “was to reach out to his high school coach and start a behind-the-scenes dialogue to see if he’d be interested in coming to Harvard.”
Ranked as the 21st overall recruit in the nationwide 2021 class by Inside Lacrosse during his recruiting process, he is one of just many highly-regarded players that Byrne has folded into Harvard’s ranks. In Sam’s recruiting class, Byrne pulled five top-100 players.
That level of talent was obvious from the jump, but even among such accomplished athletes, King’s game has skyrocketed to a different level.
Since stepping onto the field, King has
been hard to ignore. Ingratiating himself into the starting lineup from the first game, the Baltimore native racked up an easy 46 points as a rookie, scooping up six ground balls and forcing seven caused turnovers that earned him an AllIvy Honorable Mention moniker.
Named The Crimson’s Male Rookie of the Year, King has only continued to build on his athletic successes. By the end of his senior season, which was cut short during the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the team fell to No. 6 Syracuse in an overtime heartbreaker, King secured his name in the Harvard record books.
What distinguishes Sam is his utter value for the ball. Every coach lauds the hustle plays in the middle of the field, but King takes that ferocity to a new level. An animal on the ride, King’s 15 CTOs and 39 GBs land him in the top three of any non-defensive player in Division I.
As the only player in Harvard program history to hit 100 goals, 100 assists, and 100 ground balls, King’s stats speak for themselves: he impresses at every facet of the game. He is the glue that holds the offense together. He vacuums loose balls, boxes out on the scrum, and doesn’t fail to let his teammates shine.
“He brings a selflessness to contributing in that he’s not fixated on the number of points that he scores,” Byrne said. “He wants to be a part of really good offense being played. And, sometimes, he’s the beneficiary and sometimes others are.”
While the men’s squad wasn’t able to advance past the Sweet Sixteen during his tenure, King is set to join yet another storied program following graduation as a member of the Utah Archers, the backto-back champions of the Premier Lacrosse League.
Selected as the 20th overall pick — of 32 selections over four rounds — King’s lacrosse career is only beginning to take shape. As the hosts of the ESPN draft special said about the senior: while not the
best at one particular thing, King excels at everything.
That is what makes him so dangerous. He has learned to wield his size, speed, and shiftiness. He has used any doubt about his height or size or strength as fuel to propel him to brilliance. The linchpin of a program that has been radically overhauled during his four years on campus, King has brought that same mentality of mental toughness to each and every practice, scrimmage, and game.
Starting out as the Ancient Eight underdogs and receiving the sixth Ivy League bid as an at-large for the NCAA Tournament his freshman year, King has inter -
nalized any doubt about himself and his team and has capped off his career in Cambridge in a style for which he should be nothing but proud.
For King, this is just the start of his lacrosse journey, and the lessons he learned at Harvard will hopefully only continue to serve him well as he makes his mark on the professional lacrosse world.
He is, deservingly, The Crimson’s 2025 Male Athlete of the Year.
katharine.forst@thecrimson.com
Ace in the Hole: Vanessa Zhang, Female Rookie of the Year
By AKSHAYA RAVI CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
From Vancouver to Cambridge, wom -
en’s golf freshman Vanessa Zhang has driven and putted her way to success on Harvard’s team this past year. Coming off a breakout season, Zhang is now teed up for a historic career for the Crimson at the Ivy League and beyond.
Zhang started golfing in Vancouver when she was eight, when she saw her classmates — and now, fellow golfers at Harvard — Michelle Liu and Lucy Yuan golfing. After attending local camps in the spring, she liked the sport and decided to stick with it.
Following a strong high school career that included wins at prestigious tournaments and being ranked 270 in World Amateur Golf Rankings, Zhang was drawn to Harvard because there is “such a great balance between academics and athletics compared to other schools.”
Now, Zhang has proved herself as one of Harvard’s most talented female golfers in years, earn -
ing accolade upon ac colade in the League and nationally.
In April, Zhang was unanimous ly voted to the All-Ivy First Team, be coming the Crimson’s first female golfer named to the team as a rookie since 2018.
At the Ivy Cham pionships, Zhang placed first overall shooting 11 over par, setting a conference record and earning herself a bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s regional tourna ment in Columbus, OH. She also led the team to a second place finish overall.
Zhang also finished fourteenth at the NCAA tournament. Finishing with a tournament score of 218, two shots over par, her placement was the second high est finish for a Harvard women’s golfer in program history.
She also finished with the best re sults in the tournament on par fours and picked up the sixth most birdies.
During a busy freshman year on the green, Zhang also had to manage her time better to balance her academics.
“The biggest thing for me was the practice schedule,” she said. “It was a lot more structured compared to at home.”
2nd
“I really could not have done it without my team,” Zhang says. “I had so many great teammates who would come in with me, even when they did not have practice, just for extra practices.”
Finding time to practice has been more difficult for Zhang in college, which she explains is partially because the in -
14
2
Female Rookie of the Year
Vanessa Zhang Women’s Golf
Men’s and Women’s Golf
Placement by Vanessa Zhang at NCAA Columbus Regionals
Placement by Ieuan Jones in Ivy Tournament
door facilities are a 30 minute walk away while the outdoor course is an equally long drive. Still, her commitment to the sport, along with her teammates’ sup -
of Zhang, Liu, and Yuan, have been “really strong.”
I really could not have done it without my team. I had so many great teammates who would come in with me, even when they did not have practices.
port, has helped her rise to the challenge.
“You really have to make the most of your time,” Zhang said. “I think that being a collegiate golfer has made me a lot more efficient.”
Zhang was coached this year by Naree Song, who has led Harvard women’s golf as head coach for the past two seasons. Now in her tenth year at Harvard, Song says that the team’s freshmen, composed
“All three brought something a little dif -
ferent to the team, and it’s nice because everyone has different strengths and they bring something a little unique to the team,” she said.
Song praised Zhang for being a “role model” for the team in balancing her academic and athletic commitments.
“I’m most proud of her work ethic,” Song said. “Vanessa has an incredible work ethic, and it’s nice that that work ethic paid off in a big way this spring.”
Song said she hopes that the talented team can be the first from the Ivies to make it to the NCAA National Tournament. But first, they have to win the Ivy League Championships — a feat that the Crimson have not achieved since 2019. Using NCAA Regionals as a learning experience, Song looks forward to striving for national competition with Harvard’s program in the coming years.
“That is a really fun goal and a fun thing to try for as a program,” Song said.
After a breakout freshman year, Zhang is just getting started. She reminisces on the Ivy Championships as one of her favorite moments on the team from this past year.
“It was just such a fun tournament,” Zhang said. “There’s a different kind of competitive spirit that people are bringing in, especially because you’ve been training towards it for the entire season.”
Over the next three years, she hopes to win the Ivy tournament, either as an individual or a team. Beyond the conference, she also hopes to become the first Ivy golfer to make it to NCAA Nationals.
akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com
“It meant more than just the win. I mean going out there I was just thinking about the last four years and everything the coaches have put into me and all the support my teammates have given me.”
- Cael Berg after Senior Night Victory
Harrington’s seed in 157lbs division
Vanessa Zhang Unanimous All-Ivy First Team Selection
Male Rookie of the Year
Ice, Ice, Baby: Thompson is Men’s Hockey’s Youngest Star
By NATE M. BOLAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Two years ago — following the Ohio State Buckeyes’s defeat of Harvard in the 2023 NCAA tournament — a score of the Crimson’s top talent jumped to the National Hockey League, leaving the team without much of its top talent. Since then, Harvard head coach Ted Donato ’91 has attempted to recruit a freshman class that can bring the school back to its former glory.
Enter freshman forward Mick Thompson. The Mississauga, Ontario native has already left a mark on the team, earning NCAA Rookie of the Month honors in March.
He is also the first rookie at Harvard since 2002 to pick up three three-point games in a month and just the seventh to net more than 25 points in a season.
Thompson’s impact on the team was immediate. He scored his first goal in the overtime period of the second regular season game against the Princeton Tigers — a team that had beaten Harvard in both meetings in the 2024 season.
By the end of the season, Thompson was still proving clutch for the team. In Harvard’s penultimate ECAC playoff game against the Clarkson Golden Knights, Thomspon assisted the winning goal.
“I think his ability to make plays at full speed, his ability to make plays in the tougher areas of the ice, even with maybe not the largest frame is really impressive,” Donato said. “He seems to elevate his game when the game is on the line, which is a great attribute.”
However, Thompson was sure to make note of his teammates’ contributions in helping him achieve success this season, calling the team culture “so special.”
He is one of several electric playmakers in this year’s freshman class, including forward Justin Solovey, defenseman Lucas St. Louis, and goaltender Ben Charette, who posted a better goals-against average and save percentage than junior netminder and recent Vancouver Canucks signee Aku Koskenvuo, having played just four fewer games.
“It means a lot, but it wouldn’t be pos-
hockey.
“I definitely feel like I’ve grown in that aspect,” he said.
In addition scoring 14 goals of his own — second on the team behind junior forward Casey Severo with 16 — he secured 18 assists, tying him for most with junior forward Joe Miller.
As well as his game-winning assist against Clarkson in the playoffs, he scored the final three points in Harvard’s 6-2 victory over the St. Lawrence Saints with two assists and a goal.
Within a span of six days, he secured
I think his ability to make plays at full speed, his ability to make plays in the tougher areas of the ice, even with maybe not the largest frame is really impressive. He seems to elevate his game when the game is on the line, which is a great attribute.
Coach
sible without my teammates, and they all made it happen,” Thompson said.
In his first year at Harvard, Thompson said he’s also enjoyed his life off the ice.
“I’ve loved every part of it,” he said. “I’ve made some incredible friends away from hockey, which I’m very grateful for. And classes have been great.”
Thompson also said he has valued learning time management skills in his first year at Harvard, noting that he’s had to work harder to balance schoolwork and
two more three-point performances in back-to-back games, first by assisting on the Crimson’s opening two goals and setting up the game-winner late in the third period against the Rensselaer Engineers, then reversing the scoring pattern with a first-period goal and two assists late in the win over Yale.
“He was consistent throughout the season, being productive — helped us in all situations, which is very impressive for a first year,” Donato said. “He killed penalties, he
25 Record Overall 2
played on the power play.”
“He played on one of our top couple lines all year, and whether we were up a goal trying to protect the lead, or down a goal trying to score to tie the game, Thompson was usually an important part of that,” he added.
In early April at the annual team banquet at the Harvard Club of Boston, Thompson received the George Percy Award, an honor bestowed upon a freshman who exemplifies enthusiasm, sportsmanship, team spirit, and loyalty.
Looking again beyond personal accolades and toward his future at Harvard, Thompson focused on the team’s success in the years ahead.
“The big three for us are ECAC championship, a beanpot championship and national championship,” he said.
Thompson comes into the fray as a young, win-focused leader committed to constant improvement and hoping to win a national championship one day.
“Whatever I need to do to help,” he said. “I want to help this team win as much as possible.”
Donato echoed Thompson’s sentiment in describing his hope for the team’s future.
“We’re able to have more success and be able to put him in situations where we have a chance to win some championships.”
With a determined mindset and a core of driven young talent led by Thompson and his captains, junior defenseman Mason Langenbrunner and Miller, Harvard hockey is well on its way to a return to the podium.
nathan.bolan@thecrimson.com
“I’m really excited to see where she brings program in the future.”
Women’s Ice Hockey
LAURA BELLAMY
Head coach, describing Freshman standout goalie Ainsley Tuffy
Mick Thompson Men’s Hockey
Ted Donato ’91 Harvard Men’s Ice Hockey Head
see where she brings this in the future.”
Men’s Ice Hockey
“You won’t necessarily remember who scored the big goal, or had the most assists or the most saves. You will remember what kind of person they were and what kind of relationships you had with the people on your team.”
BELLAMY describing Freshman
goalie Ainsley Tuffy
TED DONATO Head coach
Coach of the Year
Making a Splash: Ted Minnis Wins Coach of the Year
By AKSHAYA RAVI AND DESSA E. KAVRAKIS CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
As coach of both the men’s and women’s teams, Ted Minnis has been instrumental to the success of Harvard’s water polo program over the past decade — and now, he has historic results to prove it.
The women’s team — which made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and won its first-ever Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship title — had a particularly successful season. Meanwhile, the men’s team secured its tenth season in a row winning more than 20 games, an especially impressive feat in a sport with about 30 games total each season. Now, Minnis is just four away from his 300th career win.
Though the accolades have piled on this season, the success has been years in the making.
Growing up, Minnis was dyslexic and had trouble in school, but began playing water polo while in high school. After leaving school for the birth of his son, he provided for his family by making deliveries for a local meat company.
Still, Minnis knew he would always come back to coaching, and just a few years later, began coaching water polo while juggling his delivery job. Finally, he became a fulltime high school basketball and water polo coach, eventually choosing to focus on wa-
ter polo.
Three and a half decades later, his decision has paid off, transforming Harvard’s program in the process.
When Minnis came to Harvard in 2010, he inherited a men’s team with a losing record for the past five seasons and a oncestrong women’s team that was now struggling to return to dominance. Within one season, Minnis helped the men’s team win its most games in three seasons, and the women win the most in six years. Still, he credits his early success to the players that
then, Minnis has proven himself as a transformational coach, building a strong support system around players that has translated to a culture of success.
“A lot of places will throw the word family around,” Minnis said. “But we really are a family, we support each other in and out of the pool.”
Ella N. Schneider ’26, captain of the women’s team, reiterated Minnis’s commitment to creating a sense of “family” on the team, and explained that the coach cares deeply about his players outside the pool.
When I get sick, or if anybody’s sick, like he is always the first person to call and be like, ‘How are you feeling today?’ He just has a genuine interest in us as human beings.
Ella Schneider ’26
Women’s Water Polo Team Captain
turned the team around.
“The dedication that they gave to this program and to teaching me to be a better coach and a better person, it’s definitely something that I’m very proud of,” Minnis said.
Before he came to Harvard, he was named USA Water Polo Development Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007. Since
“When I get sick, or if anybody’s sick, like he is always the first person to call and be like, ‘How are you feeling today?’” Schneider said.
“He just has a very genuine interest in us as human beings,” she added. Minnis credited much of both teams’ success this season to his past players, sev-
Ted Minnis: Water Polo
eral of whom attended the CWPA championship game and continue to support the team even after graduating. Building on the leadership of past years, he said this year’s freshmen were particularly impactful in boosting the
team to new heights.
Outside of the pool, Minnis cares deeply about his players’ academic goals as well. He emphasized that his players came to Harvard to experience high level academics and athletics, and ensures that they are always able to prioritize their work in the classroom.
For example, Minnis explained that he has changed the team’s practice schedule to work around lab times for classes and encourages players to build relationships with their professors, allowing athletes to be fully present in their schoolwork in addition to their practices.
“I always say my kids are scholar-athletes, and the scholar is going to come first,” he said.
Minnis is unique in coaching both the men’s and women’s teams, and he credits his assistant coaches for helping him manage the two. Though the balance can be difficult, he believes that coaching both teams has made him a better coach, allowing him to gain more experience each year and refine his coaching techniques every season.
“I look at it as an opportunity for me to get better every day,” Minnis said.
Minnis also said that he was particularly impressed with the women’s team, given various challenges that the players faced this season, including having a squad of only 15 — so few that a male player had to come on to help them practice. The team also dealt with the closure of Blodgett Pool for three weeks in late March and early April. The team adapted to the closure by practicing at pools at MIT and Boston University, as well as the smaller Malkin Athletic Center pool on Harvard’s campus.
Because of the closures, Minnis said that the team adapted to playing in different pools — leading them to success in key away games, such as in the CWPA championship.
“All the adversity that we’ve had, this is nothing,” Minnis said to the team. “Let’s just go out and win the game.”
Sophomore Serafina Cortez said Minn-
is — in a final game of the regular season as the team prepared for overtime play — told them to “close your eyes” and “go back” to those other pools. He asked them to remember the tools they had gotten from those experiences and use them in the critical OT.
“Draw on the strength you built in those moments,” Cortez recalled Minnis telling the team.
“Obviously, it panned out for us,” she added.
In the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s preseason poll, Harvard was ranked 20th in the country — a number that Minnis said the team “laughed about” and used to fuel their success. Though the team won nine of its first ten games, Minnis said that the real turning point was the team’s dominant 14-3 win over the No. 16 University of Michigan.
“We come into our meeting on Monday after that, and you could just see the mindset shift, like, ‘Wow, we are really going to win a championship,’” Minnis said.
At that game, Minnis said the team played “loose,” with all fifteen players line dancing next to the pool during the team’s warm ups.
“They’re such a goofy group, and I love them for it,” Minnis said.
In an overtime thriller against Michigan in the CWPA Championship, the Crimson once again bested the Wolverines. Though the season ended after a loss to No. 3 USC in the NCAA Quarterfinals, Harvard finished the season ranked tenth in the country — climbing ten spots from their preseason ranking.
The team proved themselves as one of the strongest programs in the country, capping off the fifteenth year of an impressive coaching career for Minnis. Behind all the success, Minnis has a simple philosophy that continues to guide his coaching.
“I get to live my dream every day,” Minnis said. “If I can make my mom proud of me then I’m doing something right, and she’s a big Crimson fan right now.”
Bulldog Beatdown: Harvard Shocks Yale
By REED M. TRIMBLE CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Coach Tommy Amaker has emphasized improvement to the Harvard men’s basketball team (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) all season. For a team with seven freshmen, four sophomores, and only four true upperclassmen, the growing pains were evident at times.
“I think the beginning of league play, we were a little bit fresh coming in against those teams,” said freshman guard Austin Hunt.
That inexperience showed in the team’s January matchup with Yale. The Bulldogs returned the bulk of a team that won the Ivy tournament and reached March Madness a season ago, also winning a game against Auburn.
The battle between youth and experience left the Crimson battered and bruised. A 29 point demolition showed its young players the difference between high school and Ivy League championship level basketball.
While the Crimson would recover and win its next game over Columbia, two more blowout losses ended the team’s first run through the Ivy gauntlet. Sitting at 2-5 in league play, Amaker still didn’t doubt that his faith in his freshmen would soon pay off.
“I think part of the reason you see guys develop a little bit later is that we trusted them early,” he said. “That’s a part of building your bench as a part of growing your young players, even though they’re going
through growing pains early, we stuck with them.”
That faith showed dividends immedi ately in the second go through Ivy play as Harvard improved to 3-2 in this cycle.
While the Crimson learned lessons, the Bulldogs taught them. Yale entered the re match with a 12-0 conference record, 13game win streak, and no losses in 2025.
“We had obviously come into that game a little bit of an underdog,” Hunt said.
“Practices had been really intense lead ing up to that game,” added Hunt. “We al ways thought that we could win.”
Practices helped Harvard prepare for Yale’s stars: senior guards Bez Mbeng and John Poulakidas. But the Crimson mainly focused on ex ecuting what the team had worked on all year.
“If we execute the things that we want to do and live up to our identity, we feel it gives us the best chance,” Amaker said.
A 5-0 start for Yale quick ly brought back memories of the first game.
But then, some thing changed.
Harvard’s preparation and
TEAM RECAPS
Field Hockey
“We have built some confidence coming off the back of strong wins against Ivy League opponents and top-ranked St. Joseph’s” - DANA GREER
son could bleed the clock before attempting to score and stretch the lead back to two possessions. Harvard crossed half-court and settled in to kill the clock while Yale applied some pressure, hoping to force a turnover without fouling. With less than ten
left, directly in front of the Harvard bench, stepped back to open up space, and lofted a high-arcing three over the outstretched arms of Townsend.
As the ball soared through the air, the hopes and prayers of an entire gymnasium willed it to find its home. The ball kissed off of the glass before gliding through the net.
“Saw a little opening on the wing, kind of just stepped back and let it go. And, thankfully, it went in,” reminisced Hunt.
Pandemonium erupted in Lavietes Screams echoed throughout the gym as everyone lost their minds — everyone except Amaker. With a coolness and stoicism that only comes from years of coaching experience, Amaker turned to the official and called timeout to set up his defense. Amaker maintained this poise despite Hunt falling into his arms as his momentum from the stepback carried him backwards.
Though the Crimson gave up points on the next possession, the set defense forced Yale to burn more time than the Bulldogs wanted. With 13 seconds left, Yale did not have enough fouls to put Harvard in the bonus, meaning the Bulldogs had to foul multiple times before sending the Crimson to the line. Harvard handled this pressure well, not turning the ball over, and sending none other than Hunt to the stripe with seven seconds left.
With Harvard fans so quiet they could hardly breathe and the Yale contingency screaming with all their might, Hunt stepped to the line with a three point lead.
The ice in Hunt’s veins still ran cold as he calmly sank the first shot and then the second.
A missed three by Mbeng, the
Ivy League player of the year, ended any hopes of a Yale comeback and one last bedlam erupted from the Crimson fans to celebrate the upset.
While the celebration of the game has long ended, it is still a point of emphasis in the Harvard locker room where it acts as a “proof of concept” for the Crimson’s goals in the upcoming season.
“It’s given our team a shot in the arm,” said Amaker.
That shot could not come at a better time in the eyes of Amaker, who emphasizes the importance of offseason workouts.
“Winter will ask what did you do in the summer,” he added.
This winter revealed the highs and lows of a youthful team. Perhaps next winter will reveal the game and upset of the year to not be a fluke, but, instead, the start of a championship team.
reed.trimble@thecrimson.com
“Ivy League football is the most competitive it’s ever been and I’m excited for us to make some noise in the playoffs for years to come.”
- HEAD COACH ANDREW AURICH
Back to Back Ivy League Champions
PHOTOS BY ASSMA ALREFAI — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2025
Harvard Baseball “Proves The World Wrong”
By DHRUV T. PATEL AND SAKETH SUNDAR CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
It was never supposed to happen.
After losing 16 straight games to start the 2025 season, the Crimson gathered in the locker room for a team meeting. The frustration was obvious. Something needed to change.
“We all talked, and you’re just like, ‘What is going on? Fix it’,” sophomore righthander Truman Pauley said. “We’re so be hind on everything. Our record’s already terrible.”
Weeks later, not much had changed.
On April 11, the Harvard baseball team dropped its 20th game of the season — a 1–0 loss to Princeton at O’Donnell Field that left the Crimson staring down a 4–21 overall and 2–8 in Ivy League play. Any dreams of a postseason felt distant at best.
But just an hour later, Pauley took the mound in the second game of a double header. The pressure was building — and in the blink of an eye, everything began to turn around.
Over 8.1 innings, Pauley held Princeton hitless — striking out 12 Tigers and walking just three — before a double in the ninth in ning broke up the no-hitter. Harvard won 3–2.
If Pauley had completed the game with out giving up a hit, he would have been the first Harvard pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Ivy League competition since 2018 — and only the second to do so since 2001.
The team didn’t know it then, but that win wasn’t just a win — it was a turning point.
“Going out in the ninth today, that’s the best
experience I’ve ever had,” Pauley said in a postgame interview with Harvard Athletics. “I wasn’t that dialed in until the eighth inning. And I was like, ‘Oh, Coach is letting me go for it. I really gotta try and lock in right now.’”
From that moment
house, the energy was shifting.
“There was a lot of adversity at the beginning of the season,” senior George Cooper, who finished his Crimson career tied for sixth all-time in hits, said. “Clearly, our record was not as good as this team is. The
the hands of Columbia — including a lopsided 1–19 loss.
Despite the setback, the Crimson still had a path to the Ivy League playoffs. To get there, the team needed a win in its regular-season finale against Princeton — a game that had been postponed due to rain
as Harvard suffered a brutal home sweep at
On May 7, Harvard delivered, closing out the regular season with a 5–3 victory over Princeton. With a 9–12 conference record, its postseason hopes rested on a tiebreaker
“Honestly, it was an awesome, awesome opportunity that we got to play in the tournament,” Cooper said. “We did our thing, beat Princeton, and then sat there waiting, watching. It’s an incredible feeling to do all that you can and then still have the ball in someone else’s court. Us getting that opportunity — it lit the fire
The Crimson embraced its underdog
“We were saying we were playing with house money,” Cooper added. “It was just so infectious among the whole team — this love, this passion, and this will to prove the world
Harvard opened the Ivy League Tournament by stunning top-seeded Yale, 3–1, on May 16. The team couldn’t have done it without strong performances from the pitch -
ers — Fang’s six-inning, one-run performance and junior Gio Colasante’s three RBIs. The next day, the Crimson met Columbia.
Enter Pauley. Facing the Ivy League’s most consistent offense, Pauley delivered a postseason gem: nine innings, 13 strikeouts, one unearned run, and just five hits. His 13 strikeouts set a new Ivy League Tournament record,
“The adrenaline was like, well, higher than anything I’ve ever experienced. It was pretty insane to be in those situations,” Pauley said.
Though Harvard ultimately fell 4–1 in extra innings, Pauley’s performance stands among the most dominant in program his-
but Truman did that.”
After the brutal loss to Yale earlier in the season, Harvard baseball came back for revenge when it mattered most in an elimination game. Harvard finally fell to Columbia in the tournament final, finishing as Ivy League playoffs runner-up.
“It was just amazing to beat Yale twice. We loved it. We loved every second of it. It was so personal,” Cooper said.
“If I went back to that day, we had the team meeting, like I would have never predicted that we would have been in the championship of that tournament,” Pauley said.
Going the Distance
All-Tournament Team. Colasante hit .412 with two home runs, six RBIs, and a save. Fang held Yale to a .200 average. And Pauley etched his name into the Ivy League record books.
Over his final five starts, Pauley struck out 41 batters in 29.1 innings, and allowed just 11 earned runs. His command, poise, and postseason dominance marked one of the best pitching stretches in Crimson memory.
The final record — 14–28 overall, 9–12 Ivy — doesn’t capture the energy of the last four weeks. For a program that reached an NCAA Regional only once since 2005, the resilience of the 2025 team that was on the doorstep of another one signaled a new trajectory. The
leader — already is a leader.”
For Harvard baseball, 2025 was a season defined not by where it began, but by where it refused to end. And with Pauley still just a sophomore and Colasante and Fang having a year of play in them, they’re not done yet — and are promising to return to the mound next year, stronger than ever.
“The team’s going to be a lot better next year,” Pauley said. “People are going to get stronger and faster, and the focus is going to be there. Because we know we can make it, and the confidence will be there.
“There’s not going to be people that are going to doubt that we can go the distance,” he added.
PHOTOS BY BRIANA HOWARD PAGÁN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Aurich Year 2
Andrew Aurich Football
Aurich’s Agenda: Team Ready To Defend Title
By PRAVEEN KUMAR AND JO B. LEMANN
STAFF WRITERS
‘You Can’t Let a Game Beat You Twice’
As Aurich walked behind the stadium after the Brown game, he remembers a player coming up to him and asking him how he was feeling.
“I’m not going to just sit here and feel sorry for myself,” he told the player. “We got a game next week.”
“You can’t let a game beat you twice,” he added.
This resilient attitude has been critical throughout Aurich’s first year at Harvard.
Even before he officially arrived on campus, alumni and players expressed skepticism about his hiring, preferring an internal hire or someone with previous head coaching experience rather than a former Princeton player and untested coach.
But since that late September loss to Brown, Aurich led the team to a successful season, beating his alma mater — Harvard’s first win against Princeton since 2016 — and proving he belongs at the helm of the Crimson’s storied program.
Despite the team’s success this season, Aurich noted that the Crimson will need to prepare for some tough battles as they look to make history this fall by picking up a bid to the FCS playoffs — for the first time in the Ivy League.
According to Aurich, the team will enter next season having graduated a significant amount of talent on defense — specifically in the defensive line and linebacker rooms. While the unit still retains captain and top defensive talent junior safety Ty Bartrum, the losses might force the defensive line to adjust its usual balance of rest and playing time.
Aurich suggested the offensive schemes will also be reworked by Offensive Coordinator Mickey Fein after junior wide receiver Cooper Barkate graduates a year early to depart for Duke football.
The receiver had been a special talent in the Ivy League, tallying 1,084 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. His connection with quarterback and roommate Jaden Craig helped sal -
CRIMSON
DESIGN BY CATHERINE H. FENG — CRIMSON DESIGNER
vage more than a few games last season.
Barkate’s loss may be a harbinger of the era of name, image, and likeness deals and increasingly easy transfers, though Aurich said he finds it unlikely anyone else will be able to graduate in three years while remaining a top football prospect.
“He’s a unicorn,” Aurich said of Barkate.
Instead, Aurich said he anticipates players will attempt to graduate only a semester early, using their eligibility — which they would be prohibited from using for an extra year at Harvard anyway, per League rules — at another school and start spring training with their new team.
While Barkate’s departure might not signal long-term pains for the team, Aurich acknowledged that the team will need to tighten up this year, no longer able to rely on star graduates to bail them out of difficult situations.
He hopes to rely on a combination of younger talent and older players who, though rarely starters in past games, have learned their roles inside and out and are ready to take the mantle. But facing a formidable fall schedule, Aurich said their task will be difficult.
“We are not the same team we were last year,” he said. “I feel like the distance between us and a lot of teams we played, as far as talent level was significantly further last year. And that’s not to say we won’t be as talented or more talented than a lot of teams who play, but the margin for error is much smaller.”
A Different Kind of Training
Aurich has a plan, though, to prepare his squad for these difficult battles — and it all started this spring with mental toughness training for the team.
The Harvard Stadium field — renamed the Tim Murphy field this year — is getting new turf this spring, so the team only practiced on the field in the beginning of the semester. This meant that Aurich was left with about a month to do what he calls “toughness training.”
He brought in mental health professionals and sports performance groups to speak to the players and help them figure out what strategies work best for them as individuals. On a team level, focusing on toughness starts with approaching each practice like a championship game.
“We’re never just out there running
plays aimlessly,” Aurich said.
Instead, he teaches players to establish a “pre-snap ritual” to make sure they are dialed into the down and distance of each play. The ritual contains three key words.
“Alignment, job, eyes,” he said. “So what’s my alignment? What’s my job in the play? Where do my eyes need to be in the snap?”
This way, not only are players considering the stake of the play, they can shake off whatever emotions are left from the last snap.
“When you have that pre-snap ritual,” Aurich said. “You have no choice but to move on.”
The training comes as the team prepares for the first season since the Ivy League began allowing the league’s champion to play in the FCS postseason. Aurich said the possibility of a playoff run has added “another level of excitement” to the team, but that he expects almost no tangible changes.
“The only adjustments that have to be made is really Thanksgiving Day plans,” Aurich said. “You gotta get some trip insurance, because you may be sticking around over Thanksgiving break.”
Now, as the team looks forward to the fall, Aurich will also prepare the incoming freshmen for the fast pace of college football. He said he is not opposed to playing freshmen if he thinks they’ve earned the reps — unlike the standard practice under Murphy, his predecessor.
“What always comes up in conversation with any recruit is they always ask about playing time,” Aurich said. “And
what I tell them is, ‘I’m always in the interest of feeding my family, number one.’”
With that in mind, Aurich said he will be on the lookout for the players who learn the schemes over the summer and can jump right into action come training camp.
“I would fully expect a number of these first-years to be playing for us and helping us win games next year,” he said.
‘I Will Earn my Keep in Recruiting’
Aurich’s new crop of 31 freshmen is an elite group that turned down more than 60 FBS offers — the highest level league in college football — to come to Harvard. He said he feels confident that Harvard’s coaching staff was “winning the battles” against other Ivy League schools when recruiting, a strength increasingly necessary in the NIL era.
“We’re recruiting different than everybody else in the Ivy League,” Aurich said. “I’m almost positive one of the reasons I got hired for this job is because I have a different viewpoint of how you should recruit in the Ivy League.”
He explained that the rest of the League often waits until the summer to start recruiting in earnest, using less formal channels like inviting players to camps and making soft offers through position coaches without head coach approval. Instead, Aurich said he works on the Power Four timeline and as of May is already almost done with the next year’s recruiting.
Aurich’s strat- egy hing -
es on making fewer offers, but making all of them firm offers, approved by position coaches, coordinators, and himself so that recruits can feel confident in their position on the team. He also relies on the weight of the Harvard name to pull in top talent who might end up at other Ivy League schools.
“You’re at Harvard. Harvard is like being at Alabama in the Power Four football,” he said. “We can essentially — if we do this right — draft our own class every single year.”
With new recruiting tactics and the academic power-house of Harvard behind him, Aurich feels confident that he’ll pull in star talent across the roster each year.
“I will earn my keep in recruiting more than anything, because we are going to recruit at a really, really high level,” he said.
As part of attracting the best possible recruits, Aurich hopes to build a program where players create strong connections with coaching staff over four years. He said that effort starts at the top.
“I want to be a coach that the players feel really comfortable coming to talk to about anything,” he said. “They feel like they can come and see me, because I’m gonna work with them if there’s things we should change.”
Hard work lies at the heart of all of Aurich’s plans. As he prepares for his second season with the team, Aurich seemed undaunted by the task.
praveen.kumar@thecrimson.com
jo.lemann@thecrimson.com
In Historic Year, Women’s Sports Empower Each Other
By ELYSE C. GONCALVES AND ISABEL C. SMAIL CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
When Harvard women’s rugby players faced off against Dartmouth at Hanover, NH in an effort to defend their national title, they weren’t the only female athletes wearing Crimson on the sidelines.
A few women’s soccer players made the trip up to Hanover to cheer for the rugby team, prepared with drums and confetti launchers.
As rugby clinched the victory, Reese Morgan said the women erupted with support. They banged their drums and shot the confetti launchers, covering the Dartmouth field in “red smoke.”
Morgan said the support she’s received from other female athletes has been integral to her team’s success and her experience at Harvard.
“The Harvard female student athlete community is really special. I am really fortunate to have some really great friends across a lot of teams,” the captain said.
Harvard’s women’s athletic teams have found great successes across the board over the past year, with field hockey making its second straight NCAA Elite Eight finish, the water polo team picking up its first-ever CWPA Championship, women’s basketball appearing in March Madness, and more.
“We are deeply proud of the extraordinary achievements of our women’s teams, as we are of those of our men’s teams,” Athletic Director Erin McDermott wrote in a statement. “This year has been especially historic for the women, with standout performances across a wide range of sports.”
Nationally, women’s sports — which have often been ignored or targets of ridicule — have exploded in popularity. Women’s college basketball, for instance, saw a 41 percent increase in viewership on ESPN in 2023-2024, marking its most-watched season in history.
National energy for women’s sports has translated at Harvard. As Harvard’s women’s teams continue to seek out mainstream recognition, they’ve built a network between teams to provide an assist.
For sophomore Serafina Cortez, a member of the water polo team, this web of appreciation from female athletes boosts Harvard’s women’s teams towards success.
“It really means a lot to have support from other women athletes,” Cortez said. “It reinforces that we’re all working toward the same goals in our respective sports.”
“There’s a really special bond between women’s teams,” she added.
Support Within The Team
Harvard’s women’s water polo team was a squad of just 15 athletes entering its spring season — about half the size of many teams in their conference.
But that wasn’t a problem, according to sophomore Lily Britt. Britt said the team got closer than usual throughout the season with fewer women in the water.
“We are very close outside of the water and inside of the water,” Britt said. “We’re a small group of women with very similar goals as a team and for each other as individuals, and I think it brought us a lot of strength in the pool.”
The women’s rugby team created a term for the closeness and support it fosters throughout its season. The 2024 NIRA champions use the phrase “RadLove” to describe the unity and
trust that the team promotes and to recognize the history of women’s sports at Radcliffe.
“It reminds us of who came before us and what they fought for in order to give us what we have now,” senior Chloe Headland said. “Rugby is such a physically grueling sport, so embracing RadLove kind of keeps us locked in because no matter what happens, there are 30 other women doing it with you.”
Junior Mfoniso Andrew, who will serve her second year as captain of the track team next year, said her team also relies on strong support systems. The team also aims to dissolve social barriers between participants on different events by scheduling hangouts.
“It’s good because cross country distance, track and field, sprinters, throwers, and jumpers don’t always interact with each other,” Andrew explained. “We did that to figure out one way each teammate likes to be supported.”
Part of looking out for each other, Andrew said, comes from showing up to the track even when athletes themselves are not competing. Given the individual nature of track, Andrew said it becomes even more important to make an effort to be there for others across different events.
‘Women Supporting Women’
Many athletes said that celebrating each other is not restricted to their own arenas. Female athletes at Harvard said they found it easy to connect with their peers on other sports teams through a shared college experience — which has brought them to support other women’s sports as a result.
When the women’s water polo team was headed to their conference championship — a critical moment for the team’s season and its legacy — Cortez said the team received a letter
from the women’s swim and dive team, with whom they share pool space.
“Keep writing your story. One step, one play at a time. Hand in hand, show them what Crimson grit looks like. And remember the game isn’t over till it’s over,” the note read.
Cortez said that the letter was “motivating” as the team entered the end of its conference play, where it ultimately secured the historic victory.
But it wasn’t just swim and dive. Cortez said that members of the women’s basketball team were consistent fans of water polo, just as water polo had been during its season.
Before the basketball team headed off to the first round of March Madness, the water polo team gathered together and filmed a video telling the basketball team to “believe it” — the basketball team’s motto to manifest victory.
When water polo later had its championship game, players on the women’s basketball team returned the favor, showing up at water polo’s final matchup at Brown University with posters and signs. Some of the women who were unable to go in person made a video to reciprocate water polo’s encouragement.
With peers and other athletes supporting them, multiple athletes felt an overall increase in attention towards their sports in the past year. Gabby Anderson, a junior on the women’s basketball team, said this year showed her that more people cared about Harvard basketball than she had previously thought — with a video of support from the water polo team and a watch party for their March Madness game at Harvard Law School.
“It was just really nice to be acknowledged this year and feel very supported,” Anderson said.
That mutual support is something multiple athletes said was crucial to their athletic
experience this year. Ruby Hodge, a junior on the women’s rugby team, said that as Harvard’s women’s sports teams took home more accolades this past year, their investment in each other’s success only increased.
Hodge said this year marks “one of the first few times” she’s seen female athletes so outwardly empower their peers — and the “most support” she’s seen across Harvard’s teams in her three years at the College.
For Anderson, that increased level of support should be a given with the overwhelming success of Harvard’s women’s teams. She said
“Women supporting women, especially in sports, is amazing,” she added.
The Fight Ahead
Despite the success and support across women’s teams at Harvard, female athletes say there is still room to grow in creating visibility for women’s sports.
Morgan, the rugby senior, said that while Harvard athletics and its athletes have made concerted efforts to focus on highlighting women’s sports, there’s always room for im-
Harvard’s teams this year, adding that “there’s a lot of work to be done to continue highlighting them and making them feel supported in the way that they should.”
Some athletes said their teams have faced challenges with gaining attention while competing on less “mainstream” teams or overlapping with other larger teams’ seasons.
Despite Harvard Athletics’ efforts to bolster women’s sports, they still face a universal challenge as many teams struggle to compete against the more established brand of men’s athletics. At a school as old as Harvard — where women’s sports were separated from the College until 50 years ago — it’s a battle that female athletes are still fighting for their teams.
Headland said the rugby team has faced particular challenges in a season overlapping with football. The rugby team plays 15s in the fall, and its matches are often scheduled on Saturdays during football games.
When the team hosted the 2023 NIRA title game at home, the rest of the Harvard community was in New Haven, watching the 139th rendition of The Game. Knowing that Crimson fans would be reluctant to miss the historic football rivalry, the team attempted to change the date and time of the contest, but its efforts were unsuccessful given game schedules are organized by each sport’s governing association.
“We are forgotten about compared to football,” Headland said. “I do hope moving forward, this changes and rugby gets the recognition it deserves. We won back-to-back National Championships, and it is hardly published. Very few people hear our story, and I would love to see this change for future players.”
Still, athletes see Harvard’s teams’ successes this past year as a strong step towards gaining traction for women’s sports at the College.
Junior Sage Piekarski said that field hockey’s consecutive successes have given its athletes a chance to publicize the sport to younger athletes.
“Having that opportunity to inspire the next generation of athletes is an honor,” Piekarski said.
As Harvard’s female athletes continue seeking out success, athletes hope they will find new ways to uplift each other and find support from the Harvard community.
Though Harvard’s women’s teams have been met with consistent victories in the past year, Cortez said she hopes that other athletes continue to empower each other during teams’ less decorated seasons — which she said made a huge difference for her team this year.
“I think it’s super easy to know what’s going on and support teams, especially when they’re doing well,” Cortez said.
“But at the beginning, consistently being there for each other,” she added, “that made the support at the end even more meaningful.”
A New Milestone: Ben Abercrombie to Graduate Eight Years After Injury
By PRAVEEN KUMAR AND SAKETH SUNDAR CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
It was the first game of Alabama allstate defensive back Ben Abercrombie’s Harvard football career — a season opener in September 2017 against Rhode Island. Two minutes into the second quarter, he went for a routine tackle on the sidelines. Then, everything went still.
“I kind of knew when I was laying on the
ground,” Abercrombie said. “It was just different than any other hit I’d ever had.”
His teammates huddled around for several minutes as medical personnel tended to him. Moments later, he was placed on a stretcher and rushed to a nearby hospital, undergoing an immediate cervical surgery.
The injury — a spinal cord trauma at the C3-C4 vertebrae — left him paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors told him he would likely never walk or breathe on his own again.
But Abercrombie didn’t listen to the predictions, spending years in physical therapy in order to make incremental recoveries. “I kept telling myself and everybody else that I was going to be back up by the summer. Obviously, it’s been a lot longer than that,” he said.
This May, nearly eight years after that game, Abercrombie will celebrate another feat at Harvard’s Commencement, graduating with his degree in Economics.
“Ben’s path to Commencement has been unlike any other student’s in Harvard history,” wrote Bob Glatz, executive
director of the Varsity Club. “And I doubt anyone has ever worked harder for their Harvard diploma.”
“It’s been a really long, long road,” Abercrombie said. “It’s just kind of surreal that it’s finally coming to an end.”
The road has been anything but typical. Day-to-day life involves respiratory therapy, rehabilitation exercises, and technology-assisted mobility. Abercrombie has regained slight movement in his hands, uses a diaphragmatic pacer that assists with breathing through 18 pulses per minute, and trains with a func
PAGE DESIGN BY SAKETH SUNDAR — CRIMSON DESIGNER
tional electrical stimulation bike to stimulate muscle function. His progress since 2017 has reflected consistent dedication.
nual “Ben Abercrombie Day” to raise funds for his medical transport, physical therapy, and equipment needs.
sweetness and appreciation for everything.”
Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2025
for a very long time here as a great example to the guys of what our culture is all about.”
Every Friday since 2019, Abercrombie makes the 50 mile round trip to Journey Forward, a nonprofit organization in Canton, Mass. dedicated to rehabilitating people with spinal cord injuries. There, Abercrombie is hooked up to a harness called a locomotor — functioning as a mill.
This year marked the seventh edition of the fundraiser as Abercrombie prepares to graduate.
“What Ben has accomplished over his years at Harvard is nothing short of extraordinary in so many ways,” wrote John Schall, owner of El Jefe’s.
Abercrombie’s presence has remained a fixture in the Harvard football program. His former teammates honored him by establishing the “Badger Award,” given each year to the player who best exemplifies his tenacity and spirit.
For Har
Shortly after his injury, the Harvard Varsity Club established the Abercrombie Fund — a community-supported endowment that continues to help his family manage the ongoing costs of medical care and travel.
Through it all, Abercrombie says the support systems around him — both in Cambridge and back home in Alabama — have made the difference.
“The support from back home’s been great,” he said. “Up here, support’s been incredible — with all the fundraisers and all the just general things that the faculty and staff does.”
One of the most enduring examples of that support is El Jefe’s Taqueria, a popular Harvard Square eatery beloved by undergraduates. Since Abercrombie’s injury, El Jefe’s has hosted an an-
know Ben over the last five years we’ve been in Winthrop House,” they wrote. “Nearly everything is more challenging and takes more time for Ben — but you would never know it from his attitude and character.”
Gajwani and Chong described Abercrombie as a student who, despite every obstacle, threw himself into his studies with passion and positivity.
“He genuinely enjoys his classes,” they wrote. “He loves learning about history and finance, he loves courses with interesting readings; he has a
ball coach Andrew Aurich, Abercrombie’s journey is the definition of resilience.
“He’s the greatest example of mental toughness that I could show to the players,” Aurich said. “Because you want to talk about having to focus when you have all this stuff happening in your life — and now he’s doing his rehab, he’s going to school, and he’s going to graduate from Harvard. That’s a lot to overcome.”
Aurich said he sees Abercrombie as a lasting figure within the program. “He’ll be a guy that we’ll be able to talk about
And at the heart of the path were his parents, Marty and Sherri Abercrombie. In 2019, Abercrombie returned to Harvard, moving into the modified suite in Winthrop with his parents, who left Alabama to help support him.
“My parents sacrifice a lot for me now that I’m injured,” Abercrombie said. “They sacrificed a lot for me before, but now it’s just I couldn’t do anything without them really.”
“Just them coming up and staying in a small dorm room for the majority of the year since 2019 shows how much they care for me,” he added.
Now, with graduation on the horizon, Abercrombie is preparing for his next chapter.
“I’ve always wanted to go into financial management after college,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with getting a job at Wells Fargo, for wealth management.”
Abercrombie will return to Alabama after Commencement to begin that role and continue rehabilitation. “I’m just really thankful for just everybody just being behind me,” he said.
“I know it’s a long road. I know eventually I’ll be up again,” he said.
When asked if he had any advice for others facing hardship, Abercrombie’s answer came without pause.
“Hard work always pays off,” he said. “No matter how hard it is, if you keep pushing, you’ll eventually get through it.”
By KAYLYN H. KIM AND TIFFANY OH CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
For most Harvard seniors receiving their diploma this May, graduation marks the start of a transition into the professional world. Some, though, have already reached the peak of their field, having taken their talents to the Olympics last summer.
Seniors Graham Blanks and Lauren Scruggs both competed at the 2024 Summer Games — with Scruggs securing a silver and gold medal and Blanks finished ninth overall in his event.
The Crimson spoke to the two seniors about their journey in their respective sports, the Olympics, and their plans for the future.
From the Beginning
Foil fencer Scruggs represented Team USA for the first time last summer, picking up an individual silver and a team gold. Even with her massive success, Scruggs still remembers her beginnings.
“My older brother fenced first, and my mom originally put him in fencing as a way to get into college,” Scruggs said “I come from an immigrant family, so college is a big thing in our household.”
“Then I started fencing after just because it was easy to put us in the same sport so we could travel places togeth-
er and things of that nature,” she added.
Soon enough, her talent for fencing began to shine through.
“My mom saw that I was pretty good at fencing. When I was 10 years old, I was winning tournaments for Y14 Y12, Y10.”
Given her success, she was eventually recruited to play for the Crimson.
“They had their eye on me, so I came here, had a great time,” she said. “The coaches here are great. I feel like everyone at Harvard was really support ive of my journey and what I needed.”
Distance runner Blanks, who recently departed the NCAA world for his pro fessional career with New Balance, achieved many feats during his time at Harvard — twotime NCAA Division I Cross Country Champion, collegiate record-holder for the indoor 5000m, and 2023 Ivy League title holder in the indoor mile, 3000m, outdoor 5000m, just to name a few.
In addition to
these successes, Blanks ran in the qualifying and final of the 5,000 meters in 2024 Paris Summer Olymit.” By his sophomore year of high school, though, running became his main sport as he began to recognize his talent when he would win events like state champion-
“And that’s what brought me here,” Blanks said, “Now I’m a professional runner which I didn’t really expect to happen back when I was in middle school, or running those Turkey trots.”
At the Games
For both athletes, the Olympics were an exciting opportunity, but also an intimidating environment since neither had much experience on the world stage before.
For Scruggs, training for the Olympics looked much like the rest of her schedule — though it required working around her
“I didn’t really do anything special, truth be told. I just did my normal thing. So I did an internship and after my internship, practiced until 9,” Scruggs said. “But I guess I was practicing a lot more.”
The Paris Games were a new experience for Scruggs, and she had to adjust to the atOlympic Village.
“The first few weeks were very tense,” she said. “The village was much quieter, people seemed a little less friendly. I definitely was much more stressed out and not really socializing. But after I was done and as more athletes started to finish up, it defi-
Women’s Basketball
“It’s the best year in Ivy League basketball and it’s great that it’s going to end this way for us.”
March Madness
CARRIE MOORE Head Coach, before
PAGE DESIGN BY SAKETH SUNDAR — CRIMSON DESIGNER
HARMONI
“You’re with the world’s greatest athletes, all in one place, the whole world is watching you,” she
Blanks, for his part, had not re alized the cultur al scale of the Olym pics until he experienced it himself. He said that many people ask him about the Olympic Village, and he described it as a “very
“It was pretty inspiring that we have this human tradition where we can all come together peacefully and be a part of this one big event,” Blanks said. “So for me, that was the best part — getting to just soak that Olympic environment.”
Competing was also a novel experience for Blanks, who described the Olympics as the peak
“Getting to compete in front of like 80,000 people two times — that
The Future
Scruggs also hopes to compete in the next 2028 Summer Olympics in LA.
“I would love to
Since leaving Harvard Athletics, Blanks has made health his top priority, which he notes
Following the Olympics, Scruggs has confidence that “when you work hard and you put all your attention into some -
new goals to
“Honestly, you never know what’s going to happen. So right now, I think I’m just trying to see where I can go with my fencing,” Scruggs said. “Truth be told, I technically skipped a lot of steps, like you usually win a few World Cups before you get an Olympic medal, so getting some more World Cup
achieve in LA, Scruggs said she wants “hopefully to replicate Paris.”
You never know what’s gonna happen,” she added. “So I try not to put any expectations on myself. Just to work hard and try my best.”
Looking for new challenges at a larger scale, Blanks transitioned from Harvard to the professional world. He felt that he had outgrown the NCAA and was ready to take the steps necessary to keep participating in events like the Olympics.
Post-Olympics, Blanks’ first thought was how much he wanted to compete in the games again.
“So now that’s my goal for the next three years — to make it to Los Angeles and then onward to wherever the next ones are,” he said.
to be in his best condition for the upcoming World Championships at the end of this summer.
In the meantime, Blanks looks forward to traveling to new places thanks to his races — something he had enjoyed during his time at Harvard.
“Now that I’m professional, I’m just excited to be able to do that at a world-scale now and have a reason to travel to all these different countries and go to really cool races,” Blanks said.
“And I hear that they’re bigger fans of athletics in Europe, so I’m excited to run in front of bigger crowds there and hopefully make a name for myself out there as well.”
After yet another historic season in which multiple school and conference records were broken in both individual and team events, the Harvard track and field team ran away with this year’s Team of the Year.
In perhaps their most successful season of recent memory, the 2024-25 squad cemented itself in the record books through grueling training and — more importantly — a powerful team culture that permeates through the locker room.
The success for this year’s team started a little bit earlier than usual — on a track that sits over three thousand miles from Cambridge. Senior distance runner Graham Blanks competed in the men’s 5,000-meter event at the 2024 Paris Olympics in early August, carrying a strong qualifying performance into the final and placing ninth in his Olympic debut.
His strong performance set the tone for the team’s strong season all around, and while he has not competed formally for the team this year, to him, not much has changed.
“It’s not like I’m some shining hero in the locker room, I’m just another guy. We’re all friends, we all train together, we all eat and study together, so it’s not like I’m just some superstar,” Blanks said.
Regardless of his status on the team, he highly values the team culture that surrounds the program.
“College programs are the one place where you have 20 guys all doing the same thing under the same coach,” he said. “It
doesn’t really get much better than this in terms of training. No doubt I was going to continue to train with the team because they still push me to be better every day.”
Senior sprinter Chloe Fair also said the constant motivation from teammates has been a core feature of her experience on the tem..
“It’s easier to succeed when everyone around you also wants to succeed,” Fair said. “I think there’s definitely an energy of a high level of success and competition. The team’s pretty competitive, which I think we’ve really seen this year especially, that’s been really fun.”
That success came early for the women’s indoor squad this season, who put out excellent performances in January’s Terrier Classic as they broke school records in the 800 meters and the 4x400 relay. With her time of 2:00.79 in the 800 meters, senior Victoria Bossong recorded the third fastest time in the nation, which gave her a spot in March’s NCAA Indoor National Championships. After having the fastest time in the preliminary competition, Bossong recorded a 2:00:93 en route to a second place finish in the final.
In the 4x400 relay, Bossong, Fair, senior Izzy Goudros and sophomore Sophia Gorriaran, who set the school record in the Terrier Classic competition, would go on to reset their school record a staggering four times in the event throughout the season. At the NCAA Indoor National Championships, they finished in sixth place, rounding out a dominant season that rewrote the record books.
The women’s team finished eleventh overall in the Indoor Championships, the highest of any non-power conference school and the highest in school history. In
addition, every single woman who participated at the event was named a first team All-American.
On the Men’s indoor side, performances have been strong from the start as well. At the Crimson Elite competition in February, sophomore Timi Esan broke his own school record in the men’s 60 meters with a time of 6.68, and later at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor championships in March, senior Kenneth Ikeji — the reigning national champion — won his third straight conference title in the men’s weight throw event.
At a USATF event in February, sophomore Tito Alofe broke his own school record in the men’s high jump at 2.23 meters.
As they headed into the outdoor season, the success kept coming.
At the Jim Click shootout in April, sophomore Marta Amani bested her school record in the women’s long jump with a 6.31-meter measurement, more than half a foot further than her old record. In addition, the men’s 4x100m team set a school record of 39.40 behind freshmen Harlow Tong, LeRoy Horton and Jordan Coleman as well as junior Jonas Clarke.
Later in April, the Crimson continued to set new records across multiple events, with the men’s 4x100 relay setting another school record at 39.34 and sophomore Milina Wepwié resetting her Ivy League record in the women’s discus with a throw of 59.75 meters. Freshman Harlow Tong also set a school record in the men’s 400m with a time of 46.55.
At the Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Championships in May, both the men’s and women’s teams finished in second place.
In a season that saw dozens of school records broken and countless stellar perfor-
mances across the men and women, many players attributed the success to the culture the team has built over the past few years.
“Overall, it’s just been a really conducive environment of improving at my own rate. I think we’re all really supportive,” Alofe said.
“The men’s and women’s teams are also very close, so overall, I’d say it’s a very solid team culture that’s been a big part of my career.”
The support within the team doesn’t just stop at the training.
At a meet earlier in the year when the women’s indoor 4x400-meter relay squad needed to shave time to ensure an invite to nationals, a bus of more than 50 team members showed up to Boston University to cheer their teammates on in a crucial race.
“They lined the whole inside track so that even though there was no one we were racing against, it was so much energy that we ran the time we needed to do and we qualified,” said Fair.
Even with all the success and broken records from this team, as Fair prepares to graduate, this moment of camaraderie stands out as a highlight of the program.
“I’ve never felt that level of support and encouragement, and it was just absolutely insane,” she said. “I think I’ll remember that for the rest of my career.”
Twice the Grit: Meet Harvard’s Dual Sport Athletes
By ISABEL C. SMAIL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Most student-athletes who put on the Crimson jersey find balancing a single varsity sport with Harvard’s rigorous academic expectations to be a full-time commitment. For a select few, however, one sport is not enough.
Meet some of the athletes who have competed on two varsity teams.
Catherine Mignone - Rugby & Sailing
Junior Catherine Mignone began her collegiate athletic career on Harvard’s varsity rugby team, but concerns about a lingering back injury caused the Bronxville, NY, native to step away from the team after her first year.
“I love the team so so so much,” Mignone said. “But I got kind of worried about having follow-up injuries because it’s a lot on your body.”
Without the rugby team, Mignone looked to explore her passion for sports elsewhere. As a proud Dunster house resident, she became an avid athlete on the house’s intramural teams.
“I love Dunster IMs. It is my favorite part about Dunster House,” she said.
Mignone participates in intramural rowing, soccer, flag football, and badminton. She credits the intramural experience for encouraging her to continue her varsity
career at Harvard.
“I realized, hey, you know what? I really miss a team environment, and I miss team culture, and I miss getting up in the morning and going out to do a sport or workout,” Mignone said.
Yearning to get involved again, the junior walked onto the varsity sailing team, despite lacking any experience. Mignone’s friends on the team were incredibly supportive, helping her earn a spot on the team.
“They were literally showing me the ropes,” Mignone said, laughing.
Harvard sailing, known for its prosperous walk-on culture, quickly prepares athletes with no prior experience to race on the national level. On April 13, Mignone competed in her first regatta, where she and her teammates, most of whom walked on, secured a 2nd place finish.
Still, Mignone missed rugby. Learning that the defending national champions were short players for the Ivy 7s Tournament on April 19, merely six days after her regatta, she jumped at the chance to get back on the pitch. She returned to the rugby program for a week of grueling practices.
“I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I was decently sore, but after that, my body acclimated.”
Mignone helped the B-side team go undefeated in the tournament, and she even scored a try. She also got to compete on the same team as her younger sister, Jojo Mignone.
“I kind of got emotional,” she said. “It felt so good.”
“The biggest thing I’m most proud of is the fight at the end. We continued to fight and claw
ARRIE MOORE Head Coach
points per game by sophomore guard Harmoni Turner led the team
strikeouts from Truman Pauley — Ivy League Record
fade upon arriving in Cambridge. After two seasons on the football team, the Rochester Hills, Mich., native decided to pursue his passions for both sports by joining the baseball team.
“I just decided it would be really cool to go back and try to do both,” he said.
He talked to the football coaching staff and was met with enthusiasm.
“They were super supportive. They said that if I could handle it, then I should definitely pursue it,” he said. “To be honest, I was expecting there to maybe be a little bit of pushback, but the conversation was super easy and they were fully on board.”
With encouragement from both coaching staffs, the sophomore is now on both teams.
In the fall, he will focus primarily on football, where the team will strive to defend its Ivy League Championship title and push toward the FCS playoffs. Then, in the spring semester, his sights shift towards O’Donnell Field and
Harvard’s baseball team.
“I love both groups of guys,” Mooney said. “They’re both a lot of fun.”
Kayley Crawford - Ice Hockey & Rugby
Kayley Crawford was a dedicated member of the varsity hockey team. The forward from Shorewood, Minn., played in 102 collegiate games for the Crimson, recording an impressive resume within the competitive ECAC.
When her senior season concluded, she looked for another way to pursue her love for sports on Harvard’s campus.
“I was kind of going through an identity crisis,” Crawford said. “I just love being part of a team.”
Then, she saw an email from the rugby recruiters through the Dunster House email list. She tried out for rugby that week and earned a spot on the roster.
Despite hockey and rugby both requiring sharp spatial awareness, the new sport posed new challenges for Crawford.
“Hockey is pretty physical,” Crawford explained. “But then, when playing rugby, I was like, this is nothing like anything I have ever experienced before. No pads, and someone is running, sprinting at you, trying to knock you to the ground.”
Unafraid of rugby’s aggressive style, Crawford excelled on the field, securing a spot on the A-side of the team for the 7s National Championship in Indianapolis, merely a few months after learning the rules.Crawford credits her achievements to the welcoming environment of the rugby team.
“My teammates literally took the time during practice to be like, this is how you pass the ball,” she said as she reflected on her first few practices with her new team. “Everyone was just so helpful.”
The inclusivity was important for Crawford, who had never played rugby.
“The first time I played, I didn’t know you could only pass backward,” she said.
ready committed to two varsity teams. Since age 11, the Windermere, Fla., native has been both a sprinter and a wide receiver.
Despite the high expectations of both teams and academic life at Harvard, Ware seamlessly transitioned into life in Cambridge.
“Both the football and track programs have been very welcoming,” Ware wrote in a text message. “I’ve felt supported from day one. The coaches and my teammates are amazing.”
While balancing both sports, Ware’s schedule is packed. Football practice is usually in the early morning. Then, Ware spends the day in class. He heads to track training next. Ware saves his nighttimes for academics.
“It’s a demanding schedule, but I have a strong support system,” Ware wrote. “My family keeps me grounded, and my coaches check in often on my physical and mental well-being.”
The preparation for football and track is often complementary.
“Track helps me stay fast and explosive for football, while football training keeps me strong and powerful for track,” he wrote.
The coaches collaborate to ensure that Ware is not stretched too thin, helping him adapt to the rapid pace of academic and athletic life at Harvard.
“Being part of two teams has expanded my Harvard experience in every way,” he wrote. “I’ve been able to build relationships across two athletic communities, which has opened doors to a wide range of friendships, resources, and opportunities, from internships to NIL deals. It has made my first year incredibly exciting, and I’m already looking forward to what’s next.”
Mignone, Mooney, Crawford, and Ware have made efforts to get the most out of their athletic experience at Harvard. For Mignone, as well as the others, the support they received made all the difference.
“I think Harvard Athletics is such a fantastic organization,” Mignone said. “It’s the most highclass training I’ve ever seen. We have just amazing facilities. We have fantastic coaches for anything we might need or want to work on, and everyone just wants to improve you as an athlete and improve your experience.”
isabel.smail@thecrimson.com
Camren Ware - Football & Track
Freshman Camren Ware came to Harvard al-
Heartbreak of the Year
Bears Claw Out Harvard’s Heart
By JO B. LEMANN AND JUDE STAFFORD CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
All 10,753 fans in Providence, RI, fixed their eyes on the big yellow goalposts at the end of the field. They thought the game was all but over as Harvard’s kicker prepared to kick the ball through the uprights and extend the Crimson’s lead.
watched in disbelief. Freshman kicker Kieran Corr saw the ball sail over his head and attempted to throw himself on it, but it slipped out of his arms and right into the hands of a Brown player on the opposite end of the field— giving the Bears around 30 seconds to score.
Now with momentum that had been building the entire second half on his side, quarterback Jake Wilcox lofted the ball from the 27-yard line to the end zone on his first attempt, right into the arms
Harvard v. Brown Football
back with 20 seconds to go, but by then it was too late. Harvard football had lost to Brown for the first time in fifteen years and earned the title of Heartbreak of the Year for the game.
The Build Up
Coming off a dominant 35-0 shutout against Stetson, Harvard headed to Providence ready to fight. Newly minted Head Coach Andrew Aurich was also looking to
He hoped to use the knowledge gained from years working with Brown Head Coach Jerry Brown to break apart the Bears.
“I worked in that offense, so I kind of know how that offense works,” Aurich said before the game.
Meanwhile, captain Shane McLaughlin wanted to make sure to start the game strong after a weak opening had nearly cost the team in the previous year’s matchup.
“We can play the Patriots or a Pop War-
and where they’ve gone. I’m so excited to see what
same,” he said at the time. “It’s going to be 110 percent each week.”
Indeed, the squad started strong. The Crimson took a commanding 21-3 lead near the end of the first half with the lethal junior duo of quarterback Jaden Craig and wide receiver Cooper Barkate picking up key yardage to nab three touchdowns.
In a sign of things to come, right as the half closed, a pass slipped through the hands of Barkate — allowing Brown to score its first touchdown.
Still, heading into the locker room, Harvard had reason to be optimistic. In the stands, Brown fans milled about, expecting the usual defeat.
The Unraveling
To spark a fire, Aurich lined up senior quarterback Charles DePrima — the former starter — in the slot. DePrima snagged a nifty 52-yard reception, setting the Crimson at Brown’s 17 yard line. Craig capped off the drive with an RPO, where he dove into the end zone to give Harvard a 28-10 lead.
Then, the impossible slowly happened.
Halfway through the third quarter, Brown’s offense came alive. Wilcox launched a 75-yard touchdown strike to a wide open Matt Childs, narrow- ing the deficit to 28-17.
near-completion at the last minute, Brown had figured out Harvard’s defense.
As Harvard’s offense remained stagnant, Brown methodically marched down the field and Wilcox threw a bullet pass to the goal line into the arms of Mahoney. After a controversial no-catch call on the twopoint conversion, the Crimson remained up 28-23 with just over five minutes left.
When Harvard came up with a fourth down stop with 1:42 left in regulation, the game was all but over. As the Crimson tried to ice the game, its rushing attack was stifled, forcing a field goal attempt.
Still, the field goal would have made a Brown comeback unlikely — making it all the more shocking when the play went sideways.
In a press conference after the
With 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Bears left their offense on the field on a fourth-and-2 from the Crimson’s 3-yard line.
While Henderson broke up the
“I
game, McLaughlin acknowledged that the second half collapse went beyond just the failed field goal.
“We definitely didn’t execute on our side of the ball in the second half,” he said. “And it’s not just one play that I can think about right now.”
For Brown’s part, the team was ecstatic to have finally bested Harvard in a game Brown students flock to every year. Perry agreed with McLaughlin’s assessment that the stunning comeback came down to more than a fluke play.
“I think you make your own luck sometimes,” he said of his team. “And through their efforts, they certainly made their own luck.”
Aurich, for his part, was left kicking himself for deciding to take the field goal rather than trying to pick up a first on the high-stakes fourth down.
Looking somber in the post game press conference, Aurich re -
fused to place blame on anyone beside himself for the loss.
“I didn’t manage it well,” Aurich said. “There’s plenty of stuff that everyone on the team is gonna have to clean up, but we should have never been in that position if I would’ve never made that in-game call.”
The Redemption
When Harvard got on the bus to head back to Cambridge, the team knew it would now have a high-pressure season ahead.
At the time, Aurich emphasized the importance of not living in the past.
“We got to move on because it’s 10 straight weeks, so you don’t have time to reflect too long on that game,” he said the week after the Brown loss. “You got to move on because your goal is to be 1-0 next week.”
Months after the disappointing result, Aurich explained how the loss raised the stakes for the team.
“We put ourselves in a position there where now our back was against the wall, and it was like, ‘Hey, we can’t guarantee that a two loss team could win out of the championship,’” he said. “So it was literally like every game was going to matter moving forward.”
Aurich decided he needed to lean into making aggressive play calls and going for it on fourth down became his signature move. The risks paid off, and Harvard went on a seven game win streak in a ten game season after the matchup with Brown. They only dropped the season-ending game against Yale and ended the season in a three-way tie for the title.
This year, Harvard Athletics gave us no shortage of unforgettable moments and we’re proud to have been there to capture them. From the 140th playing of The Game between Harvard and Yale at Harvard Stadium, to the return of women’s basketball to March Madness for the first time since 2007, the Multimedia Board had the chance to photograph some of the biggest moments of the year. Between the Ivy League championships, record-breaking performances, and quiet moments before the whistle blew, our photographers aimed to tell the story of the Crimson through every frame. These photos are just a snapshot of the energy, effort, and emotion that defined Harvard sports this year.
PAGE DESIGN BY JINA H. CHOE — CRIMSON DESIGNER
KACY BAO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
BRIANA HOWARD PAGÁN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
ASSMA ALREFAI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER MAE T. WEIR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
SARAH G. ERICKSON—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
MAE T. WEIR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
SUDHISH M. SWAIN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
CHASE W. MCCANN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
The Callahan Brothers, Paul Callahan, and Sail to Prevail
By NEERAJA S. KUMAR CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
When Paul R. Callahan
’80-85 set sail in 1995 on a weekend vacation in Newport, Rhode Island, he had no idea that the trip would change his life. Thirty years later, sailing has brought
the first quadriplegic student to graduate from Harvard and worked as an asset manager for Goldman Sachs for 15 years.
Callahan said that the 1995 sailing trip was “the first time” he had been out of his wheelchair in more than 15 years. The sport provided him with a feeling of independence that he longed for.
“It was the first sport that I could compete in and that I enjoyed.” Cal-
“I just started sailing,” Callahan said. “I left Goldman Sachs because there was something more I wanted to do in my life.”
Subsequently, he became more involved with the sport and started training for the Paralympics. Callahan is currently a two-time Paralympian, having competed for Team USA at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and at the
to London,” Callahan said. “All with the mission of taking a whole community and a whole country along with me so others could share this great secret that I had discovered.”
His sons — juniors Justin Callahan and Mitchell Callahan — have been members of the Harvard Sailing team since they entered campus as freshmen. With both currently acting as skippers and crew members, their leadership has been a vital component for the team’s
The experience of watching their father compete at the Olympics remains an integral part of the brothers’ sailing
“We got to go fly to London with him in 2012 to experience that,” Mitchell Callahan said. “And the competitive nature of that really got us hooked, and ever since then, we’ve been competitive.”
In turn, their father’s love of sailing only grew as he watched his sons get involved in the sport. Proud to see his sons having fun on the sailboat, he noted that sailing is a “wonderful gift” in the lives of
“They’ve worked very hard at their sport.” Paul Callahan said. “They’re able
“He kind of took a backseat to his own sailing, and he has not missed a regatta since we were nine years old,” Mitchell Callahan said.
Mitchell also noted the personal inspiration that their father has
“It’s really cool to have my father as a role model, kind of building that legacy and helping so many people,” Mitchell Callahan said. “He’s just such an altruistic, incredible person.”
Paul Callahan hasn’t stopped sailing. Instead, he’s focused on Sail to Prevail, a nonprofit where he became the chief operating officer in 1997.
Sail to Prevail aims to provide individuals with disabilities the opportuni-
The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2025
DESIGN BY LAURINNE JAMIE P. EUGENIO — CRIMSON DESIGNER, PHOTO COURTESY OF HARVARD ATHLETICS
ty to be active sailors, in an adapted and accessible 20-foot sailboat. The organization was founded in 1982 — originally as Shake-A-Leg Newport — but turned to a new route under Callahan’s leadership after its re-establishment in 1996, renaming itself Sail to Prevail in 2010.
Callahan has been an integral part of Sail to Prevail and described the growth of the organization as similar to “creating a startup company,” with the goal of giving others the opportunity to gain confidence in their abilities.
“This is what Sail to Prevail has provided, not only teaching them the wonderful feelings of sailing on a boat, but also how to feel much more passionate and confident on how they live other parts of their life in the world,” Callahan said.
“You get a whole new view of sailing in general,” he said, “but also what it’s like to leave whatever adversity you’re facing behind and really experience with the water.”
Mitchell Callahan expanded on how he has witnessed the program affect new participants.
“You can just see their eyes open up,” he said. “It’s a really cool feeling.”
Sail to Prevail has two separate programs: one operating in Newport over the summer and another out of Cambridge in the fall. The siblings have been involved with the program since they were born. The organization has played a big part in the Callahans’ lives and built partnership between sailors and the program’s participants.
“By the time we were in high school, we were also working for the organization as instructors, taking people sailing,” Justin Callahan said. “So we’ve really been involved our whole lives.”
The Cambridge program works with several partner schools in order to allow for collaboration between the program and students with disabilities. In Paul Callahan’s own words, he describes this as a “productive and solid relationship” between Sail to Prevail, Cambridge Public Schools, and the greater Cambridge community.
“My intention was for a child with a disability from Cambridge be able to get on a boat and experience the Charles River, which they could never have imagined before,” he said.
According to Justin, the days often start in the morning, when participants begin to show up for the boat. From there,
they provide participants with a life jacket, get them onto the boat, and get them on the water. The boats are built to accommodate any and all needs.
“These boats are super, super, super stable, very adaptive. And so we’ll take you sailing for about two hours around through Newport Harbor in the Narragansett Bay,” he said.
Sail to Prevail also has special programming such as programs dedicated to veterans and “Sail Away From Cancer” where pediatric cancer patients, their resident doctors, and family members work together to sail.
“We have people, whether they’re underprivileged or disabled veterans who are 90 years old or autistic children,” said Mitchell Callahan. “You really get people through all aspects of life.”
Both brothers worked for the program as instructors over the summer, which their father hopes has given them an “open mind” to bring to the sport as a whole. They’ve also been joined by fellow members of Harvard’s sailing team to help volunteer.
“It’s just not just Mitchell and me participating,” Justin Callahan said. “In fact, we try to give as many people on the Har-
vard Sailing team time to work with Sail to Prevail as much as possible.”
“We’ll just have one boat here and do it during practice time, and it’s a great way to help out the Cambridge and Boston community,” he said.
The organization has served several cities, and for the Callahans, it’s been a rewarding project for the entire family.
“Magic is the best way to describe it, and it’s something truly special,” Justin Callahan said. “I’m truly grateful to be a part of it.”
neeraja.kumar@thecrimson.com
Comeback of the Year
Ice in Their Veins: Men’s Hockey Nets Win Over Clarkson
By KAYLYN H. KIM CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
At the start of the second period of Harvard men’s hockey’s second quarterfinal game against Clarkson, the Crimson could feel its postseason hopes slipping away. But instead of giving in to despair, Harvard seized the moment to mount its most impressive comeback of the season.
While the overtime win ultimately wasn’t enough to prevent Clarkson from taking the series, according to Head Coach Ted Donato ’91, the team’s perseverance showed the potential of the young Crimson squad.
The first game of the series ended with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss for Harvard after the Knights overturned the Crimson’s 2-1 lead in the third period. Still the Crimson did not back down for the second game, instead using the loss as motivation. Donato said that everyone on the team knew they had their backs to the wall going into the second game. He described all three games in the series as hard-fought and close which only made the team hungrier for a win to show for all its work..
“Sometimes when you go into game one of a series on the road, sometimes you can catch a team off guard,” said Donato. “But usually in that second game, everybody’s made their adjustments, and everybody understands the intensity of the playoffs is a notch above the regular season.”
Harvard’s Successful Redemption
Harvard hockey’s second game against
Clarkson turned out to be a successful run on the ice — with junior forward Casey Severo’s overtime goal earning a decisive victory for the Crimson.
“There’s a certain shared desperation that I think is important in order to be able to advance,” Donato said. “It’s a great experience to have to go on the road and play against a very accomplished team. And so I thought our response in the game was excellent.”
Donato also noted this game was a beneficial experience especially for the younger members of the team to show the need for resolve even through rough patches.
Although junior goaltender Aku Koskenvuo was quick to block six of seven shots during the first period, the Knights managed to lead 2-0 by the beginning of the second period.
However, senior forward Zakary Karpa scored within the following minute — marking his first goal of the season — to bring the Crimson back into the game.
Shortly after, the Crimson entered its first power play of the game. Junior defenseman Mason Langenbrunner secured his sixth goal of the season — assisted by junior forward Casey Severo and freshman defenseman Lucas St. Louis — tying the game 2-2.
The game’s tension only rose when Harvard celebrated taking the lead with a goal from senior defenseman Jack Bar. The excitement proved premature, though, after he was ruled offside.
Entering the third period still with an even score sheet, the long-fought third period ended with no progression from either side.
“I remember after the third period, I
think we were all very tired,” freshman forward Mick Thompson said. “But we were still so hungry we wanted to win that much more.”
As the game entered overtime, junior forward Casey Severo quickly seized the opportunity to secure a decisive goal against Clarkson to secure Harvard’s win. With an assist from Thompson, Severo shut down the Knights and pushed the team to a third game.
This marked Severo’s second overtime goal in just three weeks and 16th goal of the season. It also meant that he scored in two of the playoff games, playing a crucial role for the team.
Donato and Thomspon both described Severo’s goal as a feel-good moment for the entire team.
“I think all of us could agree that’s probably the most excited we’ve been all year,” Thompson said.
The Team’s Takeaways
While Harvard didn’t make it to the next round of the playoffs, Donato said he found a lot to be proud of in the team’s performance, especially in the second game.
The senior players, who were part of the last ECAC championship team, guided their teammates and their amplified leadership played a crucial role in the Crimson’s success.
“I thought all the seniors really played well in the game,” he said. “And so I think they were really influential to our younger players and in the way they were leading. And I think that led to really three strong performances on the weekend.”
For Thompson, the win was a sign of the
team’s unity.
“We all worked as hard as we could, and we all bonded into the standard of how we wanted to play as a team,” Thompson said. “And I think that’s why we got the win.”
The many notable achievements from the weekend — Koskenvuo’s swift saves that kept Clarkson from scoring, Karpa’s first goal of the season that initiated the team’s catchup, Langenbrunner’s pow er play point that tied the game, and Severo’s determining overtime goal — provided consolation for the team even as they lost the other games.
“Even though we fell behind, we felt like we were playing well,” Donato said. “It was a real im pressive comeback and just a great showing of the strength and will ingness of the team just to real ly stick together and stay with it, even amongst the odds being a lit tle against us.”
kaylyn.kim@thecrimson.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF
Dill with It: Harvard’s Pickleball Club Is Here To Stay
By JAKE C. SWANSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Three years ago, if you wanted to play pickleball at Harvard, you’d have been fresh out of luck. Now, only a few years later and following the explosion of the sport nation-wide, the Harvard Pickleball club — which hosts 50 active members, three weekly practices, and a competitive squad — is changing the game for the Harvard pickleball scene.
Pickleball has been the fastest grow
once in 2024.
For junior Austin Barkas, the Harvard Pickleball Club’s incoming co-president, the appeal of the sport comes down to its accessibility.
“In pickleball, a good player and a new player, it’s a small gap. So there’s more chance for beginners to enter and actually succeed pretty quickly,” Barkas said.
This popularity has translated for the Harvard Pickleball Club, which has both recreational and competitive teams to try to meet demand. The club also recently qualified and traveled to Atlanta for the
whenever and wherever,” Freedman said. Freedman and the other original members of what would become the Pickleball Club, began holding impromptu games throughout the campus.
“We were playing in the Lowell Squash Courts. We were playing in the actual squash courts. We were playing in the Science Center plaza,” she said.
As more and more students joined, these informal meetups became a more common occurrence and the group continued to grow rapidly. However, due to a club recognition freeze by the Dean of
We need to kind of figure something out here. So we did try outs, but we didn’t want to lose that mission of trying to get anybody in and able to play,” Barkas said.
“So we do two practices a week of actual club team practices, and then on Sundays, we do open play, which is encouraged for absolutely anybody, whatever the skill level, to come and play,” he added.
According to Freedman, the melting pot, low-pressure nature of the sport attracts the large crowds.
“It’s building community through sport,” she said. “You don’t have to be this insane athlete in order to play pickleball. We have the captain of the football team playing against the CS brainiac. And they are playing a sport. In what other contexts would they come together?”
The unusual mix of people has also helped build a strong community for the
“We have like 30, 40 people that can just show up at any given time, and you never know who’s gonna be there,” said senior Andrew Chung, a starting athlete for Harvad’s national team. “I think it’s actually the easiest way to be active and also have fun and be social. There’s no other
Even with the success of the recreational side of Harvard Pickleball, the club has bigger dreams.. In late January 2025 the club’s competitive team decided on a goal: making the national tournament in Atlanta. To do that they would have to win gold at any of the three northeastern regional qualifying tournaments.
The Crimson’s competitive team traveled to the University of Connecticut in early February. Harvard’s teams ended the day winning their round-robin pools and making it all the way to the semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively. With their first tournament under their belt, the team traveled home with their eyes opened to the world of competitive pick-
“That was the first time I really learned, ‘Oh, there’s like a higher level to collegiate
pickleball,’” said Chung.
The team’s next opportunity to earn a nationals qualifier came in March. This time it came in the form of the New Jersey Dynamic Pickleball Rating Super Regional qualifier. Any medal would earn the Crimson a national bid. Thirty teams competed, making it a packed house on a cold, rainy Northeast day. The Crimson finished the day with a slightly gloomy 2-2 record and with a quick exit from the tournament. Although they were happy with the trip and the progress the club had made to get there, they were still determined to not give up on their goal.
“All eyes on our upcoming Boston campus qualifier on March 29…get hype,” read their Instagram caption.
The Boston Campus Regionals landed exactly one week before Nationals. The Crimson had home court advantage on its side though, and was able to send three squads to the tournament. After seven hours of intense pickleballing, the Crimson’s number one team was slated against Boston College in the championship matchup.
“We had to win this match,” Freedman said.
Notching swift victories, the Crimson dinked and volleyed its way to victory and a trip to Atlanta.
“It was crazy to actually see the level of pickleball out there. That was really, really inspiring,” said Chung.
Heading into the 2025-2026 season, the Harvard Pickleball Club hopes to continue growing while fostering the inclusive atmosphere where anyone can join and play anytime. At the same time it will continue to field a competitively ranked team, aiming to be a national threat on the court.
With the original founding class of Harvard Pickleball Club, including Freedman, graduating this year, the goal won’t be an easy feat to accomplish.
“Our biggest mission is to make sure we continue the culture that Elle set up and continue the community she built,” Barkas said.
From twenty dollar amazon nets to custom pickleball paddles and cross continental tournaments, Harvard Pickleball Club has quickly become a force on campus. As the sport continues to increase in popularity and esteem around the nation the Crimson will be right there with those leading the sport.
jake.swanson@thecrimson.com
The Harvard Crimson
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIANA HOWARD PÁGAN
The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2025
Parting Shots: Seniors Reflect on Life in the Press Box
Why do people love sports? There’s something quixotic at the core of our obsession with what happens in a game that is sometimes thousands of miles away and often defined by the movement of a ball that could fit in one’s hand.
For some, the connection and attachment starts young. Sports means cherished memories driving with parents for hours to get to that road game or getting dirty when diving for that ground ball on the Little League field before sharing postgame snacks with your best friends.
For the less-athletically inclined, the attachment may form at a young age when watching that first baseball game with your grandfather, or playing the first game of catch with your dad, or watching Moneyball for the first time, or hitting the golf course on the perfect summer day and smelling the fresh cut grass for the.
Sometimes, the attachment comes later. You might adopt a favorite team when you move to a new city, or when you go to college, or when your significant other is a passionate fan. Regardless of when sports enter your life, there is something magnetic about it that makes it hard to ever give it up.
There’s a common language among fans that makes it easy to make conversation with someone you just met — whether at a sports bar or in the college dining hall.
As someone who never played sports competitively at a particularly high level, I often struggled to understand what it was about watching sports and following my favorite teams that appealed to me.
There was certainly a childhood attachment to many of my favorite teams. I grew up watching sudden death NHL overtime and living and dying with every shot, or watching nail-biting extra innings baseball games. Watching those same moments as a college student brings me back to all of those (often devastating) moments as a kid.
But as someone who spent far more time in college writing and editing sports stories than watching games, I began to understand something deeper about why people love sports: it’s a true love of a good story. Everyone loves great movies or books or plays because of the stories they tell. They are stories of tragedy, heartbreak, redemption, and perseverance. But unlike that random summer action film, or that play you read in high school, fans have invested years of their lives into what happens over the course of the story. There’s no script, there’s no plot, and you can’t predict what happens next.
It has been a privilege to tell those stories as a writer and as an editor here at The Crimson, bringing the intensity, chaos, heartbreak, and triumph of Harvard athletics to life. The years I spent on the Sports Board have given me a new appreciation for why I love sports, and why we as fans love sports. I will always be grateful for that.
My dad tells me that sports bring a community together — that today more than ever two people living in the same town, state, or region might only have sports to connect them. Sports do not care about your race or creed. They can give you a banner to raise.
How could writing about a game be important if it’s not the real world? When I started writing for The Crimson, I wasn’t thinking about community. I wanted something to do while Harvard duked it out on the field, court, and ice.
But when senior Sophia Montgomery became the first of several current Harvard College students to be nominated for the 2024 Paris Olympics, I jumped at the chance to write about her nomination. I was awed that one of our classmates would be at the highest athletic stage in the world. The nominations kept dropping, and our complete Olympic squad featured over 25 athletes participating in a plethora of different events.
When our Harvardians get to the pinnacle of their respective field, it’s important that we all know about it. Our celebrations of each other’s achievements turn a school into a community. Montgomery ––and all of the 2024 Olympians –– take a little part of Harvard –– a little part of all of us –– to Paris with them.
After writing about the Olympic nominations, I wrote about the 50th anniversary of Harvard and Radcliffe College merging their athletic departments. The Director of Athletics at the time, Robert Blake Watson, was firmly against the merger, because he saw women’s teams as less serious or competitive.
“Are we justified in dismantling established men’s programs that have operated in a competitive atmosphere in order to accord equal treatment to programs which are not really equal in either intensity or dedication?” Watson wrote in a memo at the time.
It took a change in the law, and the pressure of female athletes and athletic admin-
istrators like Mary Paget, who was the director of sports at Radcliffe, to force the Director to relent years before the University intervened. Social issues play out in Athletics as they do in communities more broadly.
Writing about sports, telling the stories of our modern day gladiators, is essential. Athletes push humanity’s physical and emotional boundaries every day, giving their all to become champions of the world. Athletes can become champions for equality, but only if we give them an audience. When we tell the stories of athletes fighting with all their might for the name on the front of their jersey, we enable athletes to bring out the best in ourselves.
As we push forward and fight for what is right, I am sure we will see athletes on the frontlines. Every match is an opportunity for sportsmanship to prevail, and every off-court appearance is an opportunity to lift someone with their actions.
When I look back on my three and a half years as part of The Crimson, I won’t remember the headlines and the medals. They’ll be secondary to the communities I helped fuel.
C. ZHANG — CRIMSON DESIGNER
By AARON SHUCHMAN FORMER SPORTS CHAIR
By THOMAS HARRIS FORMER STAFF WRITER
HUGO C. CHIASSON — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
HUGO C. CHIASSON — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
By
There’s a place, buried deep in the basement of 14 Plympton Street, where I’ve had some of my most trying moments as a Harvard student. It’s a humble black couch, with a blanket on it probably left over from the Clinton administration, where I could lay down and rest for 15 minutes before journeying back up to the Sports Cube. To edit one more article. Write one more paragraph. Think of one more headline.
As my eyes fluttered shut, I often asked myself the same simple question: why? Why do we subject ourselves to demanding deadlines, exacting editorial standards, relentless revising? More specifically, why do we work so hard to produce top-notch sports coverage, at a school where more students know Latin than the rules of college football?
The answer that I gave myself, invariably, was the same: It’s the people, stupid.
Early on in my time at The Crimson, “people” meant those within the organization who supported me. When I comped during my freshman spring, lacking an iota of experience with sportswriting, a group of inspirational upperclassmen kept me invested in the board: Noah Jun, Zing Gee, AJ Dilts, Alex Wilson, and Griffin Wong thoroughly convinced me that the Sports Board was the most eclectic and fun group of people in the building.
During my sophomore year, under Griffin’s tutelage, I figured out who the “people” were that made sports journalism truly worthwhile: the players, coaches, family members, and fans who religiously follow Harvard’s teams. Griffin gave me a masterclass in relationship-building, helping me to understand that a passing conversation with a player in the hallway can be as important to the long-term development of your beat as a sit-down interview with the coach.
In each feature I wrote about Harvard football from 2022-2024, many with the help of Griffin and, later, the extraordinary duo of Jo Lemann and Praveen Kumar, I worked to make the reader understand the individual stories driving the game forward. In an era where attention spans are low and entire sagas of striving, grit, and triumph are reduced into three-minute highlight reels, I think it is more important than ever to produce deeply-reported journalism that compels the reader to sit down and ask difficult questions about the teams they love. Questions like these: How does a Harvard football team captain, a biomedical engineering major beloved by his teammates, go undrafted but eventually work his way up to making his NFL debut this February?
Why did Harvard hire an alumnus of Ivy League-rival Princeton to take over the helm of the football program, and what about his makeup could set the team up for continued success?
What role does Harvard football still play in the life of Ben Abercrombie — a Harvard football alum who was paralyzed from the neck down on a kick-off play in 2017?
Apart from football, I was lucky enough to cover another sport with vibrant traditions and a dynamic team personality in Harvard baseball (and lucky enough, as this parting shot went to press, to watch Harvard compete doggedly in the Ivy League Tournament). Talking to George Cooper about his passion for music-making, along with my co-chair Katharine Forst, was one of the most genuine and generative conversations I had with a Harvard athlete. Katharine has a remarkable ability to connect with anyone she speaks to, and interviewing George alongside her reinforced to me that good reporting comes from deep conversations.
As I leave Harvard and the Crimson behind, I’ll always look back fondly on the stories we wrote, the supplements we painstakingly curated, and the 150+ articles we edited as cochairs. But without a doubt, my proudest accomplishment at 14P is the impact I had on junior writers, compers, and the editors I worked with across the organization. In that final category, I hope (perhaps naively) that Katharine and I swayed some hearts and minds within the organization. That we convinced some CrimEds that well-reported sports writing can teach our readers as much about Harvard — and about life — as any front-page News story. Regardless, I’m confident now that my catnaps on the basement couch were worth it. That the stories I told were important, and shining a light on the people who drive Harvard athletics forward mattered. My only advice to the next guard of sensational Crimson sportswriters is simple: it’s all about the people.
Sports will be something I share with my family forever.
Growing up, sports were a way for me to connect with my three older brothers. We could talk about an epic Feder vs. Nadal match at the dinner table, or I could count on them to help me work on my inside roll dodge in the backyard. Whatever it was, sports were a common ground that bound us.
They also connected me to my dad. My partner in crime, I have vivid memories of sitting in traffic on the GWB on the way to lacrosse tournaments, chatting about my week at school over a box of Teddy Grahams and blaring pop music on the radio. In his weeks of nonstop chaos, he always took the time to show up for me.
That is what sports have come to represent in my life: an unbreakable community. However, coming to school, I was worried that once I stopped pursuing my sport I would be isolated from that community. I was sorely mistaken.
Choosing to not pursue lacrosse at Harvard was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, yet I can’t help but think that it was simultaneously one of the smartest. It allowed me to fully immerse myself in the Sports Board, and dedicate my time to sharing our athletes’ stories.
Having experienced athletics from a different vantage point, I think I was wellpoised to do so. Understanding the time, dedication, and commitment our athletes put into representing our school on a nation-
al level imparted in me a similar dedication to ensuring that our athletes were equitably represented in our news cycle, and lauded for their achievements.
But to do that, I had to impart on our board that showing up matters. Over my four years covering the men’s lacrosse team, I’ve proudly attended every home game, and have made it a priority to travel to almost every away game within a 250 mile radius. Certainly not the norm, but I desired to show up for my team and for the Sports Board.
As a beat reporter, investing time into building that relationship is critical, and the work and time spent doing so pays dividends. Showing up for your team does not go unnoticed. You become a member of that program, and a familiar face on the sidelines. Showing up and taking the time each weekend to travel, cover their games honestly, and share their stories fostered a relationship where it was abnormal for me to not be cheering them on.
Before my tenure, men’s lacrosse received coverage for maybe three games a season. It was not what we consider to be a “big beat,” yet I believe I have turned it into one.
Enjoying the work matters as much as the product itself, and bringing a love and passion to each article is what makes our stories so unique. And, I can confidently say that I have loved every moment of my time covering the lacrosse team: the friendships I’ve fostered, the people I’ve met on the board, and the true exhilaration of seeing a program become a national, storied, success.
The Sports Board has become a home for me, and I’ll forever cherish my time at 14P.
