Track, Yale Combine to Defeat Brits

Archrivals by nature, the Harvard and Yale track teams combined forces to defeat a contingent from Oxford and Cambridge on Saturday at Yale's Dewitt-Cuyler track.

The Harvard-Yale women dominated Oxford-Cambridge 13-4, while the Harvard-Yale men edged out Oxford-Cambridge, 10-9, in a close meet that came down to the final event. Each event winner was worth a single point in Saturday's meet.

The Crimson and the Elis will make the transition from victorious teammates to fierce competitors in the next week. Harvard hosts Yale in the teams' annual outdoor dual meet on Saturday. Both the Crimson men's and women's teams will be looking to avenge narrow defeats from last season.

Harvard Women

Crimson athletes won five of the 15 individual events. Yale athletes produced six of the individual winners, while the Harvard-Yale contingents dominated both relays.

Three of the Harvard's wins came in the throws. Junior Nicky Grant won the shot put with a 13.35-meter throw-far and away her best effort of the season. The throw was the third-best of the outdoor season in the Ivies, and would have placed fourth at Heps last season. The other two winners were freshmen Breeanna Gibson in the discus at 41.74 meters and Alexandra Petrone in the javelin at 36.76 meters.

Co-captain Brenda Taylor won the 100-meter high hurdles in a meet record time of 13.82 seconds. Taylor had already broken her own school record in the event twice this season, most recently on Apr. 7 with a 13.62-second run.

Senior Dora Gyorffy won the triple jump with a 12.72-meter effort, the best performance in the Ivies this year. She did not compete in her premier event, the high jump, one of the few events Oxford-Cambridge won during the meet. Sophomore Kart Siilats, this year's NCAA Indoor champion, placed second after not clearing anything past 1.68 meters.

Harvard Men

The Crimson men won five individual events on Saturday. Harvard's throwers, who won three events, propelled the Harvard-Yale team into the lead. In the relays, the Oxford-Cambridge team won the 4x100 relay, but the Harvard-Yale team took the 4x400 by a two-second margin at 3:18.04 to secure the meet.

As expected, co-captain Chris Clever won the javelin and fellow captain John Kraay won the shot put. They were both a few meters short of their best performances-Clever at 66.06 meters and Kraay at 15.88 meters.

Encouraging results came in the discus. Sophomore Ian Shelswell produced a 47.74-meter throw and Kraay reached 46.50 meters to place one-two. Shelswell's throw was among the best in the Ivies this season and approximately long enough to score at Heps.

The Crimson's two wins on the track came from junior Kobie Fuller and senior John Friedman. Fuller won the 400 in 49.86 seconds, while Friedman won the 5000 in 15:19.08