Women's Track Enjoys Rebound Year

The Harvard women's track team had it all: a national superstar, a do-it-all point scorer and a bevy of dedicated performers. The result was the most success the program has seen since 1994.

A third-place showing at indoor Heptagonals, the equivalent of the Ivy Championship, was satisfying. Even better was the second place at outdoor Heps.

Several headline performers, experienced senior leadership and a phenomenal sophomore class made this year one of the best in recent Harvard history.

Last year, Harvard finished fifth indoors and sixth outdoors.

"We really saw the sophomores come into their own," co-captain Margaret Schotte said. "We knew we had a fantastic group of women that now had time to adjust. Also, we have developed a bigger team perspective, and people are now doing more events."

Two stars led the way. Sophomore Dora Gyorffy continued to impress on the national stage in the high jump. She finished second at prestigious Penn Relays and second at the indoor national championships as well. She has a chance to add to that record at the outdoor NCAA championships.

Joining her was sophomore Brenda Taylor, whose versatility might have overshadowed her expertise at the 400-meter hurdles. She also qualified for outdoor nationals.

In the outdoor dual meet with Yale, Taylor won the 100 and 400 hurdles, finished second in the 100 and ran in the winning 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

At Penn Relays, Taylor was involved in two school record-breaking performances. She had already set the school record in the 55-meter hurdles, at indoor Heptagonals.

At outdoor Heps, Taylor's versatility reached new levels.

She won the 100-meter high hurdles and the 400 hurdles, the latter in a meet record of 59.66 seconds. She ran the second leg mile relay, which captured first place, collected second in the 100-meter and ran the second leg on the third-place 4x100 team.

Harvard also consistently got points from its 4x400 team, the best in school history.

Co-captain Heather Hanson, Taylor, senior Lee Shearer, and sophomore Marna Schutte ran a phenomenal 3:42.84 at Penn Relays. It also ran 3:43.74 on a windy day at outdoor Heps for a meet record. The team posted the top three times ever at Harvard this spring.

"The mile relay was so close to setting an Ivy League record [3:42.71] at Penn and keeps breaking their school record every time they step foot on the track," Schotte said.

Additionally, the team got a boost from seniors that peaked at the end of their careers.

"It was nice seeing seniors finally hit their stride," Schotte said. "Laura Coleman had a personal best at outdoor Heps, and Lee Shearer made finals in 400 after being frustrated by injury for two years. [Thrower] Caroline Johnston came second at Heps, so that's fantastic."

The track year began slowly with cross-country. The team placed fourth at the Fordham Invitational, but losses to Princeton and Yale and an eighth place finish out of the nine teams at Heps left a bad taste in the team's mouth.

"It was a season with a lot of fairly serious injuries, bad flukish ankle turns, stress fractures and stuff like that," said Schotte, who also captained the cross country team.

"I think we ended the season with barely enough people to field a team, but the people who stuck it out and even those who were injured are coming back even more excited for next year. All six freshmen are coming back next year, so that's great."

Moynihan will captain cross country next year, and Johnson and rising junior Taylor will co-captain indoor and outdoor track.

Despite the outstanding showing at Heps, Schotte said she thinks the team's best meet was the Harvard-Yale showdown in the spring.

At stake was a trip to England for the Oxford-Cambridge meet. The top performers made a composite Harvard and Yale squad that will make the trip this summer.

Moreover, after the meet was a memorial legendary track coach Bill McCurdy, who coached at Harvard for 30 years. The stands were packed with alumni and friends of Harvard track for the tribute and the traditional rivalry with the Bulldogs.

The women won, 99-46, to extend their win 11-year win streak over Yale.

Schotte said there were around 50 personal bests between the men's and women's teams.

The outdoor season was a truncated one, with other results including a second-place finish in the tri-meet with Brown, the winner, and Dartmouth.

During the indoor season, the Harvard women were perfect, beating B.C., Northeastern, Brown and Cornell in a tri-meet, Princeton and Yale.

The influx of 22 freshmen next year and the overall youth of the team gives hope for even better things next year.

"Some of us think the best class is here, and it's the sophomores in their depth of talent and energy and commitment and leadership," Schotte said.

"Now it's about seeing how they come into their own, how they encourage freshmen to reach their potential. I think there will be a lot of changes in what scores are around and the coaching," she added.

At the beginning of the indoor season, co-captain Heather Hanson said she was afraid that the team, only about 40 athletes in number, had to spread itself thin.

Those fears proved to be unfounded; the talent was there, as well as the durability and the willingness to take on additional events. The result was the best women's team in recent memory.