Crimson, Elis Lose To English

Saturday morning was rainy and windy, much to the delight of the Oxford-Cambridge track and field team.

"We like the rain. The Americans may do better when it gets sunny," tour head Chris Thorne said, while standing on the soggy turf at Harvard's McCurdy Track.

But not even improving weather conditions in the afternoon could pull the combined Harvard-Yale track and field team out of defeat.

For the first time in thirty years and thirteen track meets, the Harvard and Yale team lost, 19-15, in the biannual competition with Oxford and Cambridge.

The event was the 34th meeting of the two combined teams and is the oldest international track and field meet.

But despite the Harvard and Yale loss, camaraderie and enthusiasm marked the day for the traditional rivals, who together set many meet records.

"This is a good meet. The athletes really get to know each other, and it's a good chance for our people to see that Yale is not that bad," said Harvard Head Coach Frank Haggerty '68, who won the 440-yd hurdles when he competed in the meet in 1967.

Harvard sophomore Bryan Henry shared some of Haggerty's feelings, saying he was "excited about the day. There is a lot of tradition behind it. But it is strange that in two weeks we are competing against Yale."

Henry won the 800 meter run with a time of 1:500, beating highly touted Andrew Lill of Oxford-Cambridge by only eight-tenths of a second.

Crimson senior Co-Captain William Doyle captured the hammer throw with a meet record of 195 feet, 11 inches.

But Harvard's most impressive victories came in the short distances. Freshman Shayne Mauricette won the 200 meter dash in 21.7 and set a school record (10.44) on his way to victory in the 100 meters.

Senior Co-Captain Deborah Boyle won the 200 meters, setting a meet record of 25.0, and junior Kristina Lynch won the 100 meters in 12.50.

Another speedy Harvard freshman, Amanda Williams, took second place in the 400 meter run, but seemed a little upset afterwards.

"I don't feel great about it. It was my first quarter outdoors this year, and there is a lot of room for improvement," Williams said.

Haggerty expressed similar emotions about the meet in general.

"I am a bit surprised that we lost [the meet]," Haggerty said.

"We could have won the relay," he said, referring to the four-by four hundred men's relay from which Yale withdrew two runners at the last minute. "But it was a good battle," Haggerty said.

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