Crimson coach Pappy Hunt called it "the greatest win we've ever had in the women's track program at Harvard," as his spirited harriers knocked off New England power Springfield, 53 1/2-51 1/2, Saturday afternoon at the ITT.

A surprise Crimson victory in the mile relay, an event Springfield was favored to win, made the difference in the meet, the Harvard women blazing to the tape to set a new school record of 4:04.5. The quartet of Becky Rogers, Posey Bryan, Kathy Dorsey and Pat Gopaul smoked the old Harvard mark by more than four seconds, Gopaul turning in a blistering 60.0 anchor leg.

The mile relay win, coupled with an easy two-mile relay victory for the Crimson, pushed the women up from a 51 1/2-43 12 deficit into the two-point margin of victory. The win evened the team's record at 2-2 on the season.

Long Shots

Distance strength kept the Crimson going all afternoon, Harvard taking the top three places in the mile, two-mile and 880-yd. runs. Karla Amble turned in a strong distance double, winning the mile in 5:06.0 and cmufting to a two-mile victory in an easy 11:39.0, 22 seconds slower than the record time she ran in that event last week.

Kim Johnson added a strong first-place throw in the shot put, tossing in a new school record of 40 ft. 10 3/4 in. to give Harvard some badly needed field event points.

Crucial second-and third-place efforts, like Leslie Sims' 27 second 220-yd. sprint, equaling the school record and tying her for third to split that event's final point, kept the Crimson in range of the speedy Springfield squad, which cleaned up in the sprints and hurdles.

"I've always used the Springfield meet as a barometer--to measure the team's progress," Hunt said yesterday. "I told the girls we'd beat them some day. And we did. We have arrived."