Gyoffry Leaps Through NCAAs, Secures Third Place in Nation

After freshman Dora Gyorffy finished competing in the high jump in the NCAA Championships on Saturday, she watched her roommates Lisa Kowal and Erin Treacy on T.V. Gyorffy was in Indianapolis and Kowal and Treacy were in Palo Alto, CA, but one thing united the trio: each had witnessed a remarkable first.

Kowal, a guard on the Harvard women's basketball team, and Treacy, a Crimson cheerleader, were enjoying a momentous new chapter in Ivy annals: the 16th-seeded Crimson's unprecedented upset of top-seeded Stanford.

"It was such a great game," Gyorffy said. "It was so incredible."

Gyorffy, however, had just achieved her own incredible feat.

With a placement of 1.85 meters (6'00"75) in the high jump, Gyorffy garnered third place in the nation and All-American honors.

"It's just a tremendous accomplishment," junior Ken Hughes said. "It's the type of individual success you wouldn't expect to see at a school that won't offer the athletic scholarships that some of the big schools do.

"The likelihood of getting someone of (Dora's) caliber into a school like this is very slim."

Hughes cited a Dartmouth shotputter who won his event at the NCAAs last year.

"That kind of talent just doesn't show up at an Ivy League school that often," Hughes said.

Ian Carswell '97 was the last Harvard athlete to attain All-American laurels at NCAAs. Carswell accomplished that last year. Teammate Killian Lonergan '97 just missed making the final cut.

Texas freshman Erin Aldrich won the high jump on Saturday with a finish of 1.94 meters. Southern Methodist junior Kajsa Bergqvist placed second, vaulting 1.91 meters.

"I was really nervous before the meet," Gyorffy said. "It was my biggest meet.

"I didn't jump as high as I wanted, and I was sick at the beginning of the week. But I guess [my finish was] good."

Good? How about phenomenal?

It was the first time in eight years that a Harvard athlete had recorded a top three finish. More impressively, Gyorffy was the first Harvard freshman to clinch a top three finish.

"It was so fantastic," said junior Margaret Schotte. "We know how good she is, and this was her chance to show the world how good she is."

"I had a good season," Gyorffy said. "I have to be happy. But I wanted to jump higher."

After such an impressive first season, that aspiration seems eminently reachable.