Men Prevail; Women Fall In Tri-Meet

NEW HAVEN--Although they began the afternoon with a whimper, the Princeton Tigers record took Saturday in the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Tri-Meet in New Haven to outclass the Crimson and Eli women tracksters, 60-49-25.

Competing in the newly dedicated Cone Cages, a facility touted as one of the fastest tracks on the East Coast, Princeton rebounded from disqualification in the opening 800 meter relay to take four of the 11 remaining contests. The Tigers also dominated the second, third and fourth-place standings.

Just a week after nearly upsetting Midwest powerhouse Purdue, the Crimson garnered the majority of the first-place finishers (five), but could not overcome Princeton's depth to prevail.

Freshman jenny Stricker was the brightest spot in the Crimson's afternoon, taking the 1500 and 3000 distances in record smashing times. In the talent-packed 1500, Stricker held off Yale contender Debbie Schulte to finish first at 4:25,70, three seconds better than junior Darken Beckford's year-old mark. Harvard senior Co-Captain Mary Hershey initially took the lead in the 1500 but finished fourth, behind Schulte and teammate Kate Wiley, who took third.

Stricker later completed a difficult double by winning the grueling 3000, despite hot pursuit by Yale's Margaret Wynne, who ran at the yardling's elbow for most of the 15-lap race. Her face flushed with exertion. Stricker proved her superior mettle by streaking through the last lap for another meet and Coxe Cage record of 9,39,43. Harvard freshman Kathy Goode coming off a lengthy stress fracture injury, took fourth.

Beckford encountered some difficulty in the 400 meter run when she got boxed in on a turn by two Princeton sprinters and finished second at 57 23. Later competing in a more familiar event. Beckford nabbed the 800 in a be of 2,14 01, seven seconds off her meet record. Harvard tidelands Grace de Fries and Mary Jeanne Barrett finished third and fourth.

Senior co-captain Kim Johnson was Harvard's only other individual winner, taking first in the shotput with a throw of 13,39 meters, 07 meter over her own meet record. Freshmen Marie Acacia and Kathy Durante took second and fourth place.

Harvard's only weaknesses surfaced in the sprints. The tidelands failed to place in the 200 meter dash, but Marjorie Scharoun Managed a fourth in the 95 meter dash, and Miriquita "Sheets" Princeton took third in the 55 mete hardles with a time of 8.99 seconds Patterson also grabbed third in the long jump with a 5.26 meter effort.

Harvard's only other victory of the day came from the two-mile relay team of Wiley, Herliby, de Fries and Beckford, who ran almost uncontested to take an easy first with a time of 9:13.9.

THE NOTEBOOK: Because the men's and women's tri-meets were held concurrently, the afternoon events took about five hours. The tracksters all went out to dinner afterwards, however, gorging on weak, chicken, baked potatoes and ice cream at Yale's, in New Haven, on the way back ... Junior Karen Gray turned 20 on Saturday, so the team munched on birthday cake at the restaurant provided by Gray's parents.