Thinclads Finish Season at Heps; Women Take Unexpected Second

It was the best of times and the worst of times for the Harvard track and field team last weekend at the Heptagonal Championships at West Haven, Conn.

The women's team snatched an unexpeceted second place finish, but the men's team pulled up in eighth place, defeating only Columbia and Cornell.

Navy and Cornell successfully defended their titles on the men's and women's side, respectively.

The Harvard women racked up 100 points on the weekend, far behind Cornell's 160 but just enough to squeak past Princeton (99.5 points) and Pennsylvania (99).

The final standings were up in the air until the last race, the 4x400 relay.

The Crimson only needed a sixth place finish to secure second place, but Harvard had to do it without the services of anchor-woman senior Tanya Weidinger, who withdrew because of a hamstring in jury.

Sophomore Kristina Lynch filled in for Weidinger with a gutsy anchor leg, crossing the line in sixth place.

"We had to stay close, and Christina came up big for us," women's Co-Captain Rita Raju said.

Harvard's surprising second place finish was a tribute to the exceptional performances across the squad.

A total of 20 athletes scored points for the Crimson.

"Everybody really contributed," Raju said. "There were so many personal records being set. It was amazing."

Co-Captain Cathy Griffin led the charge, winning three events and setting meet records in two of them. The records fell in the discus (166'4") and hammer throw (177'0"), and she also won the shot put (47'8.5").

Griffin won a total of nine Heptagonal titles in her Harvard career.

"She's been amazing for all four years," Raju said. "It was nice to top it off with a big finish."

Other clutch performances cited by Raju were sophomore Alexia Cruz, Lynch and sophomore Alais Griffin.

Cruz took third place in the long jump with a personal-best 19'2" jump, nearly breaking the school record. Lynch's surprising third place in the 100 with a time of 12.62 seconds was just .4 seconds off Brown's Susan Smith (voted Outstanding Female Athlete for the meet). Griffin's 4:31.58 in the 1500 was good for fourth place in a very competitive field.

"It's good to see the young ones come through for us," Raju said.

Finishing fifth place in the meet was Brown, far behind with 79.5 points. Yale scored 35 points, followed by Army (30), Dartmouth (29) and Navy (19).

Columbia competed but failed to place, scoring a grand total of 0 points.

The picture on the men's side was much less rosy. The men scored 37 points, largely on the heroics of Co-Captain Nick Sweeney.

Sweeney won his third discus title, setting a meet record of 190'6". Sweeney, who won the discus in 1989 and 1991, also won the shot put (53"8-1/4").

Despite the low point total, Harvard coach Frank Hagerty was impressed by his team.

"The score wasn't indicative of how we did," Hagerty said. "We placed a more people in finals than we expected to. They just came up a bit short."

"Eighty or 85 percent of our team recorded seasonal bests," Hagerty said.

Other than Sweeney, the top Harvard finishers were junior Bill Doyle and freshman Bryan Henry.

Doyle's 200' hammer throw got second place, three feet short of Cornell's James Fahle's winning hurl. Henry's 1:49.29 in the 800 was just 0.2 seconds off the meet record. Henry finished second, behind Anthony Mays of Brown (1:49.29).

Pennsylvania finished in second place overall with 112.5 points, trailed by Dartmouth (94), Princeton (60), Yale (52), Army (51), Brown (50), Harvard (37) and Cornell (29).

In last place was Columbia (8 points).

Men's Final Team Standings 1. Navy  126.5 2. Penn  112.5 3. Dartmouth  94 4. Princeton  60 5. Yale  52 6. Army  51 7. Brown  50 8. Harvard  37 9. Cornell  29 10. Columbia  8

Women's Final Team Standings 1. Cornell  160 2. HARVARD  100 3. Princeton  99.5 4. Penn  99 5. Brown  79.5 6. Yale  35 7. Army  30 8. Dartmouth  29 9. Navy  19   Columbia  0