With 20 yards to go in the 22-lap race, anchorman Jeff Campbell was tripped by an usher who had stepped on the track to retrieve some peanut shells thrown from the stands. Before the accident, Harvard was in fourth place, and challenging for third.

Campbell eventually finished but not until the two remaining teams in the race had crossed the line. The Crimson ended up sixth in the ten man field.

"We were made as hell afterwards," Campbell said. "He [the usher] didn't make any apologies to any of the team members."

"I really feel bad for the seniors [Joel Peters and Jim Springate]," Campbell went on. "This was their only chance for All-America honors." All-America status is awarded to the first five finishers in each event.

The coach noted that "Campbell probably would have run his best leg ever. He had a 52.1 for the first quarter."

"Everyone was sympathetic, but no one wanted to accept responsibility," McCurdy said of the race officials.

"We lost contention in the first three legs," continued McCurdy. "But Jeff put us right back in there. He had taken us from sixth place to almost third."

"Jeff had the guy one-to-one and couldn't out-fake him," he laughed. "Campbell's just a poor broken-field runner."