Men Third, Women Second in GBC's

Six women's track teams converged Saturday at the ITT to determine the title Best of Beantown 1981, and when the dust had cleared, Harvard emerged in a respectable second place behind nationally ranked Boston University, and not a single meet record was left standing.

One factor may have been the recent conversion to metric distances, which automatically rendered all standing GBC records obsolete. Another was the British invasion of two world-class B.U. imports who combined to win six different events, often finishing one-two well out in front of the rest of the pack.

Valley Forge

In fine revolutionary form, Harvard's trackwomen fought back valiantly and gave the Tories a real fight, contributing some of their best performances to date.

The meet began well enough for the Crimson. After four events, Harvard stood out in front with 24 points to nearest rival B.U.'s 20. Darlene Beckford, back from the Millrose Games that morning, ran an incredible race in the 5000 meters, finishing a full minute and two full laps in front of her nearest competitor with a 17:07. Nice to have you back, Darlene.

The duo of Kristen Linsley and Mary Hurlihey took one and two in the 1500, a blistering pace set by Linsley, who finished in 4:31.09. Gretchen Klopfer cruised in fifth to put the icing on the cake.

Harvard's time was running out, though. As the meet moved into the sprints and field events, B.U. emerged as the national caliber team it is. Canadian freshman Julie White was absolutely smashing as she flew 19 ft., 3/4 in. to take the long jump for the Terriers, turned around and propelled herself 6 ft. 3/4 in. vertically into the air to win the high jump, and then grabbed second in both the 55-yd. hurdles and the 55-yd. dash. Teammate Sharon Colyear eclipsed White by winning the 55-yd. dash, the 55-yd. hurdles in a mere eight seconds flat, and the 200-meter dash to complete the hat trick. Definitely a hard act to follow....

But Harvard was undaunted, and pitched a last minute siege against the terrible Terriers in the remaining events. Ellen Gallagher broke a meet record with her 10:01 first-place finish in the grueling 3000 meters, followed by teammate Anita Diaz in third.

Circus

Meanwhile, going on simultaneously and adding even more confusion and congestion to the over-populated meet was the pentathlon, broken up into five separate events around the periphery of the track. Quiet Karen Gray surprised everyone by coming out way on top, an inspiring personal victory for the versatile junior.

Harvard's final victory in the two-mile relay and second-place finish in the mile relay put the Crimson 13 points behind B.U. for the day, a well-fought and well-earned finish for the plucky tracksters.

The Crimson is next in action Wednesday night, when it travels to Boston University for a 7:30 p.m. contest with the Terriers. Saturday, the squad is at Princeton...Field hockey captain Sara LeBlond is one of the squad's managers.