Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Feb 10, 20232 min
The Stride Report's top-ranked middle / long distance recruit in the nation has made her college commitment. Rhode Island native Sophia Gorriaran has announced that she will be attending Harvard University starting in the fall.
Gorriaran's final five schools in consideration for her commitment were Harvard, Penn, Texas, Texas A&M and Virginia. The middle distance phenom has also forgone the option to pursue a professional track and field career.
"I’m thrilled with this choice, and I want to thank Coach Alex Gibby for recruiting me over the past 18 months. I’m also grateful to Coach Kebba Tolbert and Coach Marc Mangiacotti who enabled me to internalize the incredible potential they will provide with a unique and flexible team-coaching effort; one that is designed to specifically maximize my ability as a student athlete at Harvard. I’m inspired by this option and the great possibilities that it affords, and I look forward to being on campus in September! Go Crimson."
The current high school senior has dominated the middle distances at the prep level. The Moses Brown High School talent holds personal bests of 54.10 (400), 1:10.42 (500), 1:25.22 (600), 2:00.58 (800), 2:39.98 (1k), 4:37.54 (mile), 9:48.19 (3k), 10:32.42 (two miles) and 17:20.50 (5k XC).
Among those marks, she holds five all-time top-10 high school marks. She was also the 7th place finisher at the 2020 RunningLane XC National Championships. Gorriaran is the youngest female athlete to ever compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She is a multi-time U18 world record holder in multiple middle distance events.
For Harvard, this is a massive recruiting victory. The Crimson have slowly built up an impressive roster of top-tier middle distance athletes, finding significant success under Coach Alex Gibby.
Anna Juul, who is now at Michigan as a graduate student, ran a time of 4:36 in the mile and qualified for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships (which was cancelled due to the pandemic) during her time with the Crimson.
Abbe Goldstein, who is now at New Mexico as a graduate student, ran a time of 4:10 for 1500 meters as well as 4:35 in the mile. She also qualified for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships (which was cancelled due to the pandemic) and 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships during her time with the Crimson.
Distance star Maia Ramsden, a current sophomore from New Zealand, has evolved into an NCAA superstar with Harvard. Ramsden has run times of 4:12 (1500), 2:43 (1k), 4:30 (mile) and 8:54 (3k). She also finished 11th at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall.