Thinclads Begin to Wrap up Indoor Season

The Harvard women's track team traveled to New Haven last weekend to compete in the Eastern Indoor Championships at Yale.

Athletes who have qualifying times and distances are invited to the compete in the annual meet, and the Crimson sent seven representatives this year.

Of the seven Harvard athletes who competed in the Easterns, three were place winners. Beth Pfefferle finished third in the 800-meter run. Her time of 2:15 was two seconds behind her season best of 2:13.

"I was happy with third," Pfefferle said, "but I think I could have done better."

Meredith Rainey's first place finish in the 800-meter run was the highlight of the meet for the Crimson. Although she won the event, Rainey's time of 2:11.64 did not qualify her for the Nationals.

"That was my best time this year," Rainey said.

Rainey's top event is the 400-meter dash, in which she qualified for the Olympic Trials last summer. For the third straight year, Rainey has already qualified for the 400-meter in the Nationals.

Rainey also won the 800-meter run, showing her versatility as an athlete.

"It's remarkable that with all her ability in the sprints, she is able to step up and compete in the 800 at that level," 400-meter runner John Mee said.

In addition to Pfefferle's and Rainey's respective third- and first- place showings, long distance runner Romney Resney took sixth place in the 5000-meter run.

In the field events, Manda Schossberger and Rita Raju competed in the triple jump, and Christine Roberge did the long jump. Roberge said she was disappointed with her leap of 18-ft., 3-in., which was below her season average of 18-ft., 5-in.

In the throwing events, freshman Cathy Griffin entered both the 20-lb. weight throw and shot-put, but did not place in either event.

The women's team will compete in its final competition of the indoor season next weekend at the National Championships. Two national qualifiers, Suzanne Jones and Rainey, will represent Harvard. Jones will compete in the 5000-meter run, and Rainey will take part in the 400-meter dash.

While the Harvard women's team was competing in the Eastern Championships at Yale, the Harvard men's track team wrapped up its indoor season at the IC4A Championships in Princeton, New Jersey.

The Crimson could not send all of its qualifiers due to sickness, injuries and athletes who had to work on their senior honors theses.

Captain Donald Lavigne ran for the Crimson in both the 400-meter dash and the distance medley relay, but did not place in either event.

One of the highlights for the Crimson was the performance of freshman Derrick Horner, who qualified for the finals in the long jump and won his heat in the 200-meter dash. Horner finished eighth out of 12 in the long jump, but he failed to qualify for the finals in the 200-meter, despite winning his heat with a time of 22.3 seconds.

"The competition was really strong," Horner said. "You had to qualify just to compete in the meet, and the standards were pretty high."

The IC4A Championship was the final indoor meet for the the men's team. Harvard will now prepare for the outdoor season, which begins after its spring break trip to Houston.