Harriers Rout Northeastern on Opening Day

The Harvard men's and women's track teams jumped to a quick start, winning yesterday's season opener against Northeastern on McCurdy Track.

The Crimson women flew past Northeastern with 11 first place finishes. In the throwing events, Jennifer St. Louis won both the hammer and javelin throws, while Northeastern's Sherri Harris took the discus and shot put.

In the field events, Harvard's Anne Duderstadt and Megan Young tied for first place in the high jump with leaps of five feet.

On the track, Harvard won the 400 meter women's relay in 48.64 seconds and took first in the women's mile relay with a time of 4:06.71.

Harvard women swept the sprints, with Dorcas Mambeleo winning both the 100 meters and 200 meters, and Carol Kirton finishing first in the 400 meters. Elizabeth Ross took the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.95, and Meredith Rainey finished first for the Crimson in the 800 meters. In long distance competition, Romney Resney won the 3000 meters with a time of 10:05.02.

Northeastern beat the Harvard men's team during the indoor season, and the Crimson aimed to settle the score. Going into the final event, Harvard carried a narrow one-point lead. The Harvard men had nine first places going into the mile relay, and needed one more win to finish on top.

In the throwing area, Co-Captain James Russell won the hammer throw, Nic Sweeney took the discus and William Krause finished first in the javelin. On the track, Andrew Webster beat his competition in the 3000 meter steeplechase, Brian Cann took first in the 5000 meters and John Mee won the 400 meters.

The men's competition went down to the wire, leaving the last event, the mile relay, to decide which team would be the victor.

In the final event, Harvard and Northeastern ran head-to-head for the team victory. President Derek Bok arrived in time to catch the deciding race. After the first leg, Harvard trailed by a narrow margin. The Crimson's second lag narrowed the gap enough for the third man to overcome Northeastern and hand-off to the anchor with a competitive edge. Northeastern continued to press at Harvard's heels to the end, but the Crimson won the season opener by just four tenths of a second, with a time of 3:21.4, beating Northeastern's time of 3:21.8.

Next week, the Harvard men's and women's track teams look forward to racing against Ivy powerhouses Brown and Dartmouth in a triangular meet.