M., W. Track Set To Take Off at Heps

Harvard hosts the most important track meet of the indoor season this weekend. Gordon Track will welcome runners and fielders from all the Ivy

squads, along with Navy, to the 54th Heptagonal Games Association Indoor Track & Field Championships.

The Harvard women hope to repeat as champions, while the men's squad

looks to improve upon its finish from last year.

Harvard Women

The Harvard women have dominated the indoor season thus far, winning all of its meets against Ivy competitors.

The Crimson topped Brown, 109-92, to take the meet last year. Harvard

will look to some familiar faces to defend its title.

Superstar co-captain Brenda Taylor led the team last year, taking three

sprint events at Heps--the 55-meter dash, 55-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash. The Crimson will need another strong performance from Taylor in order to come out on top again. In a January meet, the Crimson edged Cornell by two points, and the Bears by ten.

If past performance is any indication, Harvard turns it up a notch when the Ivy title is on the line Taylor's fellow captain, Marna Schutte, has also had a good deal of success at Heps, and will look to repeat this year.

"It's always a tight meet," Schutte said. "But I think we've got a very

strong chance."

Schutte is the reigning indoor-outdoor champion in the 400-meter dash. She has already bettered her winning time from last year, and her 55.98 time is second only to Taylor's.

In the field events, the women are anchored by senior Dora Gyorffy, who

could win the meet MVP honors for an incredible fourth year in a row. Gyorffy has gotten a late start on the year, as she took time off to compete for her native Hungary in the Sidney Olympics. She appears to be in good form, however having qualified for the most recent World Championships with a 1.96-meter jump this past weekend. It was also far and away the best collegiate jump this year.

Gyorffy saves her best for Heps, as she tied the national collegiate record in the high jump last year, clearing 1.97 meters. She is also defending a three-year winning streak in the triple jump.

Sophomore Kart Siilats--the Estonian national champion--gives Harvard the best high jump tandem in the country. Sillats leap of 1.84 meters in the first meet of her Harvard career in December places her fourth on the NCAA performance lists.

Junior thrower Nicky Grant is favored to win her first-ever Heps title this weekend. After placing second last year, she has upped her performance to NCAA Qualifying Standards, and she has thrown a foot better than anyone in the league this season.

Sophomore Helena Ronner is also expected to contend for some individual accolades this weekend. She is ranked second in the league in both the long jump and the triple jump. She placed second in the long jump at Outdoor Heps last year.

The women will be motivated by the home crowd on hand.

"We want to defend our title, and we've got something to prove," Schutte said. "We're at home, we want to defend that."

Harvard Men

The Crimson men should improve upon their poor finish at Heps from last season.

Harvard defeated Brown in early January, and nearly beat Cornell in the

same meet. The Bears came in second at Heps last year, failing to score

as highly as Princeton.

At that meet, the two-mile relay team cruised to an easy victory,

running the third-best time in Ivies this year, at 7.43.75. Senior Chuck

Nwokocha sprinted to victory in the 60m dash, at 7.03 seconds.

If that meet is any indication of how ready the men are for this meet,

then Harvard should make marked progress.

Co-captain John Kraay has performed well in the shot put all year, and his toss of 16.90 meters is one of the best in the league this season, although he faces tough competition from the Princeton throwers.

Kraay is joined in the shot put by fellow captain Chris Clever, who should be in the running in the weight throw. Senior Arthur Fergusson and freshman Tekky Andrew-Jaja are both capable of placing highly in the triple jump.