W. Track Overcomes Obstacles To Beat Princeton, Yale; Injuries Foil Men

If the entire Big Three Track and Field Championships were a race, you could say the Harvard women's track team got off to a bad start.

But, as the meet progressed Saturday afternoon at Gordon Indoor Track and Tennis Center, the Crimson recovered to squeak past Princeton by four points. The final score of the meet was Harvard 56, Princeton 52, and Yale 40. YALE (MEN)  18 HARVARD  49 PRINCETON  102 HARVARD  49

Although the men were hampered with injuries and finished second to Princeton, 102-49-18, the challenging Ivy League competition brought both Harvard teams to a higher level as it produced three school records and personal bests just in time for Heptagonal Championship next weekend.

As doubtful as it may have seemed in the beginning of the meet, the women battled through, defeating a talented Tiger roster. YALE (WOMEN)  40 HARVARD  56 PRINCETON  52 HARVARD  56

"The beginning of the meet was filled with problems coming up," co-captain Margaret Schotte said. "Some people had to pull out of their races last minute because they were sick with the flu."

Harvard Coach Frank Haggerty successfully reshuffled some runners, which resulted in more points than the team anticipated.

Of all the people moved around, sophomore Brenda Taylor was the most successful. She came in third in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.38 seconds, captured first in the 55-meter hurdles and finished second in the 400, just .02 seconds behind Princeton's Bynia Reed. She capped off the day by helping to break the women's school mile-relay record with a time of 3:45.27.

"She had a great day," Schotte said. "She practically scored half of our points for us."

Co-captain Heather Hanson came in first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.90, along with second in the 55-meter dash Sophomore Marna Schutte came in just behind Hanson in the 200-meter.

Sophomore jumper Dora Gyorrfy captured firsts in both the high jump and triple jump. She finished at a disappointing--for her--6 feet, 1.5 inches in the high jump then broke her own school record in the triple jump with a length of 12.57 meters. Gyorrfy jumped at a level beyond the reach of her competition, with the second-place Princeton jumper at 11.74.

The Crimson won key points in the 3,000-meter, with sophomore Senta Burton finishing first with 10:08.77 and freshman Erin Leonard coming in third at 10:16.68.

Freshman Loni Sherwin won the pole vault at 2.75 meters. Sophomore Mary Unsworth finished third in the mile at 5:02.48. And junior thrower Kristy Johnson came in third in the shot at 12.10 meters.

The Harvard men's team did its best considering the impact injuries had on its roster, but Princeton's depth was too much. The Tigers swept the 800-meter, pole vault, and high jump.

"We knew it was going to be hard," co-captain Joe Ciollo said. "We were really disadvantaged. We did pretty well for what we had."

Harvard was missing junior middledistance runner Darren Dinneen, throwers senior Ken Hughes and freshman David Grimm, and sophomore sprinter Chuck Nwokocha, a usual contender in the 55-meter dash who was out due to a temperamental hamstring.

Ciollo not only produced one of the three first place finishes, but also broke his own school record in the 500-meter with a time of 1:03.12.

"I am very, very happy with my race," Ciollo said. "It's been a great season, and I had great day."

Ciollo was also involved in one of the most exciting races of the day, the mile relay. Running anchor, Ciollo got the baton two seconds after the Princeton anchor but ate up so much ground that the two were neck-and-neck at the finish. Based on the film, he said, he made up 1.7 seconds and ran a 400-meter split of 46.7 seconds. To put that in perspective, the 400-meter went to Princeton's John Mack in 48.3 seconds, although Ciollo had a moving start.

Others with good days on Saturday included freshman Kevin Worrell and sophomore jumper Arthur Ferguson. Worrell came in first in the 55-meter dash at 6.52, .09 seconds ahead of Princeton's Paul Elcock. Worrell finished second in the triple jump at 14.52 meters, .26 behind first-place teammate Fergusson. Fergusson captured third in the long jump at 6.89 meters.

Freshman John Cinelli came in second in the 1000-meter with 2:28.30, and senior Scott Muoio captured second in the mile at 4:10.77. Freshman Kobie Fuller came in second in the 400-meter with a time of 48.61, while sophomore thrower John Kraay finished second as well in the shot put, throwing 16.26.

The Crimson got two more third-place finishes from sophomore Ed Baker in the 300-meter and freshman Shawn Parker in the 55-meter hurdles.