SPORTS BRIEF: Harvard Has Five Players Named First Team All-Ivy

On the heels of a 7-3 season and a thrilling triple-overtime win over Yale in The Game, five Harvard football players were named first team All-Ivy yesterday.

The Crimson also had one player named to the second team along with six honorable mentions.

Junior running back Clifton Dawson was a unanimous first-team pick for the third year in a row.

Dawson finished the year with over 1,000 yards rushing for the third straight time, becoming the first Harvard player to ever accomplish that feat.

He was also voted the Crimson’s most valuable player by his teammates at the year-end banquet.

Harvard’s other first-team nods went to junior defensive tackle Michael Berg and senior offensive linemen Will Johnson and Brian Lapham—the second year both veterans had garnered first-team accolades.

The Crimson’s final first-team pick was junior linebacker Matt Thomas, the team’s leader in tackles this season. Thomas, who missed his sophomore season in 2003 due to injury, will receive a medical redshirt and return for Harvard in 2006, during which he will serve as the 133rd captain of Harvard football.

Senior safety Robert Balkema was the Crimson’s only second-teamer named yesterday. Harvard’s honorable mentions went to senior wide receiver Ryan Tyler, senior tight end Kelly Widman, and junior linebacker Ryan Tully, along with three sophomores: quarterback Liam O’Hagan, defensive end Brad Bagdis, and safety Doug Hewlett.

Brown’s Nick Hartigan, who led the nation in rushing and propelled the Bears to their first outright Ivy title, was named the unanimous Ivy Player of the Year.

Six other Brown players were named to the first team. Yale tailback Mike McLeod was named Rookie of the Year.

On the other end of the spectrum, Columbia—who finished the season without a win in the Ivy league—had no first team nominations.

—LISA J. KENNELLY