It came down to the 1600-meter relay yesterday at Soldiers Field, and as the Northeastern anchorman sprinted towards the finish line. Harvard men's track coach Bill McCurdy said, "We can only hope he drops the baton."

He did not, and the N.U. win in the final race of the meet clinched yet another victory for the Huskies over the thinclads, 88-77.

Despite the absence of All-American middle-distance men Adam Dixon and John Murphy, as well as versatile jumping threat Sola Mahoney, the Crimson held a seven-point lead heading into the final three events.

N.U.'s Chris McConnell then grabbed first in the 200-meter event, but Crimson tracksters Marc Chapus and John Jakenfelds took second and third to maintain a six-point margin.

The 5000-meter race, usually a Harvard stronghold, turned into a nightmare when Eddie Sheehan fell ill and withdrew after leading for the first half. Northeastern went on to sweep the first three spots to snatch a slim, three-point lead.

However, the final relay, a five-point, winner-take-all affair, still left the Crimson in a position to win the meet. But the squad of Ryan Lamppa, John Chafee--who earlier romped in the 800 meters-- Al Harrington and Chris Nicodemus lost by 1.9 seconds.

McCurdy, who had to ask assistant coach Ed Stowell when the Crimson last dumped the Huskies (four years ago), said he felt the team put out a solid effort in its final home meet for the spring season.

"We were weakened by sickness and injury, but we lost because of the breaks of competition," he said.

Captain Geoff Stiles provided the real news of the day, failing to win the pole vault for the first time this year, including the winter season.

The NCAA indoor champion slipped in the wet weather on his first vault, and missed his next two attempts at 14 feet, after passing at earlier heights. A successful vault of 14 feet would have given Stiles the win and added four points to the thinclad's tally.

"I didn't get back into position after bending the pole on the second two vaults. I guess I didn't compensate for the wind," Stiles said yesterday.

Stiles still managed to contribute to the final total, taking second in the high jump with a 6-ft. 2-in. leap.

Harvard piled up a host of strong showings:

Trackster Joe Pellegrini registered a sterling performance, setting a new stadium and meet record in the discus, with a heave of 54.36 meters. Teammate Dan Drvaric was the runner-up in the event.

Tom Lenz and Joel Ball took the first two places in the hammer throw, and Gary Quantock finished a distant second in the shot put to round out an impressive day for Crimson tossers.