Lone Star Break Beneficial for Track

Two-a-days--nobody likes them, but every season invariably begins with them.

The Harvard men's and women's track teams traveled to Houston over spring break for twice-daily practices leading up to the first meet of the outdoor season.

Freshman high-jump sensation Dora Glorify once again dominated the competition and started her season with a bang. Glorify jumped 1.90 meters, setting a Bayou Classic record and the Rice stadium record.

Her result already qualifies her for NCAAs at the end of the year, and she is eligible to run in the European Championships as well.

"I was very happy and so surprised," Gyorffy said. "I had really hard training, so I was very happy [since it was the] first meet. I almost made my personal best of 1.94 meters, and I'm really excited because the European Championships are at home [Budapest, Hungary]."

"We were really lucky since there was nice weather, and practice was very good."

After a morning and afternoon practice, Gyorffy said the team "went out for dinner or a movie every night, so we had a good time."

Other team members practiced hard the entire week, and their meet performances suffering as a result. Gyorffy was an obvious exception. One reason is that her work-outs were easier after the first two days.

"I got a lot of rest, and I started doing weights for practice," she said. "I'm excited that it's already shown [results], so I have a chance to improve."

The women placed third out of five teams in the Bayou Classic with 106 points. The Crimson finished behind Houston, which finished with 159 points, and Rice with 143.

"It was the best trip of all my four years," said co-captain Margaret Angell. "The team had a lot of fun, we worked really hard, and it was fantastic weather."

Angell did not get to compete because she became ill, but she was encouraged by the work her teammates got in.

"The results were not indicative of what the team's potential is," Angell said. "The training that we did was absolutely incredible."

"I think having the team together and training really hard for a week sets an excellent tone for the season, and people just looked really good," she said. "The team's as strong as it's been in four years, and we're ready to do better than we did indoors."

Co-captain Ali Goldkamp finished fourth in the 800-meter, freshman Marna Schutte was fifth in the 400-meter, and senior Jenny Berrien was third in the 100-meter hurdles. The 4x100-meter relay finished third with an excellent time of 47.74 seconds.

"The time they ran was phenomenal," said junior Margaret Schotte, the 3000-meter winner. "Just looking at that, if they can run that well after a week of hard training, the relay is going to be fantastic for the rest of the year."

The men lost to Rice 66-47 in the Meeting of the Minds but also benefited from the work.

"It was pretty nice," said junior Scott Muoio. "The weather was great. Everyone ran a lot, and everyone ran fast. The team did a lot of partying--except for me."

Muoio finished second in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:22.14.

"I ran four seconds off my best of last year, so I'm in just as good shape as last year, probably better," Muoio said. "By the end of season, I'll probably be under nine minutes."

Muoio is also encouraged for the team's prospects this season. "We looked pretty good, and I think a lot of people are more excited than have been last few years, which is the most important thing."

Senior Kevin Johnson finished second in the 100-meter dash, and junior co-captain Joe Ciollo was third in the 200-meter and fourth in the 400-meter. Freshmen Chris Clever, Arthur Furguson and Tarek Himid won the javelin, triple jump and hammer throw, respectively.

The track team's break wasn't so different from everyone else's. The runners went to a warmer place, got tan while spending time in the sun, and came back happy. They just got a lot more exercise than the beach-bum set.