W. Track Takes Fourth at Heps

The Harvard Indoor track teams ended their season last weekend with a whimper and a yell.

The Crimson men finished a dismal eighth at the Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field Championships, with only 29 points, while the women left Hanover, N.H. with 64 points, giving them a respectable fourth-place.

On the women's side, Brown lived up to everyone's expectations by collecting 114 points to dispatch defending champion Cornell and take first place.

The Harvard women placed ahead of Princeton, who had beaten them in the Harvard Princeton Yale meet earlier this year.

"We had a good performance overall," senior Co-Captain Rita Raju said. "Those we expected to do well did well."

"We have a small team this year, but we still placed one person in almost every final," Raju said. "We need a much bigger team to expect to win an invitational like this, but that means we were performing very well."

The Crimson benefited from some exceptional individual performances.

Junior Michelle Sheehy finished second in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.12 seconds. Raju finished in the triple jump at 39'5." Both performances were school records.

Senior Co-Captain Cathy Griffin and Nicole Carkeek placed first and second in the shot put.

Freshman Jennifer Kearney finished second in the mile run to Cornell's Jen Cobb at 4:54-40.

"Kearney ran a very brave race," Raju said. "Cobb is one of the best in the nation, but Kearney led most of the way."

Navy emerged victorious for the men, with a final score of 122 points. In doing so, the Midshipmen barely displaced four-time defending champion Dartmouth.

Harvard, forced to contend with injuries, had to settle its somber performance.

"I thought that we had a realistic chance of coming in at sixth at this year's Heps," senior Co-Captain Nick Sweeney said. "But given the injury situation and the people we had, I guess we did all right."

"[Senior Co-Captain] John Oakes and [junior] Bill Bland are two of our key players," Sweeney said. "We really missed those points in the relays and distances."

Sweeney himself was unable to compete in the 35-lb. Weight throw due to a back injury. He did, however, win the discus with a throw of 55'1."

There were a few other bright spots on the weekend for the Crimson. Freshman Joe Ghartey and freshman Bryan Henry took fourth-place finishes in the pentathlon and 1000 meter, respectively, while the two mile relay team placed third.