Thinclads Topple Northestern in Last Relay to Secure Third Straight Win

It all came down to 1600 meters. Whichever relay team covered that distance in the shortest amount of time would win the meet.

So when Co-Captain Scott Murrer crossed the finish line with the baton in his hand four seconds before the Northeastern anchorman, the Harvard men's track team got the necessary five points it needed to clinch the victory.

The Crimson thinclads notched their third straight win Saturday afternoon at MIT when they edged out the Huskies, 83-80. After falling behind by 14 points midway through the meet. Harvard put on a surge late in the contest that culminated in the decisive relay.

With only the 5000 and the 4x400 left to run the Crimson and the Huskies were knotted at 70 apiece Northeastern's Tom Harrison and Harvard freshman Paul Gompers jumped ahead of the rest of the pack at the start of the 5000 While they battled for first, sophomore Cliff Sheehan found himself in a fight for the crucial third place. As they entered the last couple of laps, Harrison pulled away from Gompers, but Sheehan's gutsy kick was just enough for him to take third by the slimmest of margins.

At the start of the meet, it seemed it would be too late for the thinclads by the time the 5000 and the relay rolled around. The Huskies swept the hammer, the discus and the shotput, as well as taking first and third in the steeple chase and edging out the Crimson in the 4x100 relay

Harvard got its early points in the jumping events. Senior Jimmy Johnson led a sweep of the long jump, followed by freshman Mike Okwu and Co-Captain Gus Udo Harvard's longtime jumping nemesis. Northeastern's Russ Hartman, finished fourth Udo also took first place in the triple jump with a leap of 50 feet, over four feet better than his performance last week. Doug Boyd cleared 6-ft. 10 1/4-in to win the high jump and junior Mark Henry took second in both the triple and the high jump.

In Addition

Harvard continued to add to its point total in the 1500 when senior Adam Dixon and Sheehan took first and second, respectively. Huskie Jim Sargeant had the lead as the trio went into the gun lap. Coming around the last turn. Sheehan put on a burst of speed and passed Sargeant. But, just as Sheehan nabbed the lead. Dixon put on his usual explosive kick and passed both of them to win the race with a time of 3:51.2.

Dixon's kick also propelled him into second place in the 800, while teammate Brad Bunney crossed the finish line first. In a race reminiscent of the 1500, both Crimson runners hung back until the final turn, when they simply blew away their Northeastern opponent.

In the 400 meter hurdles no Harvard comeback was necessary. Kim Stephens jumped out in front from the very crack of the gun and no one ever came near him. Stephens finished the race with a time of 53.6, almost three seconds faster than Northeastern's Bob Quitzau, the second place finisher.

The win marks the end of the squad's dual meets for the year. Next week the Crimson will face Northeastern again, along with the rest of the Boston area schools, as the track teams battle it out for the Greater Boston Championship.

THE NOTEBOOK: Udo won the second annual 200 meter grudge match over teammate Bernard Goodwyn, avenging last year's loss.