With only three days until the Heptagonals and the Ivy Championship, the Harvard men's and women's indoor track teams have to feel pretty good about their chances after this weekend's showings at the Big Three Meet.
For the men's squad in particular, the trip to Princeton was very rewarding. For the third straight year, the thinclads beat Princeton and Yale Harvard amassed 84 1/2 points, the Tigers finished second with a total of 61 1/2 and Yale brought up the rear with 24. The women had a more frustrating time, losing to Princeton by one point, 56-55, while Yale once again finished third.
The men clinched the meet thanks to some fine jumping, some outstanding throwing and strong performances in the middle distance events. To get the afternoon started, weight thrower A1 Quintero won his event with his best performance ever, a toss of 59 ft., 1/2-in., just two feet short of the NCAA qualifying distance.
In the jumping events co-captain Gus Udo won the long jump with a leap of 23-ft 2-in and led teammates Mark Henry and Shawn Hall to a sweep of the triple jump Henry also won the high jump and qualified for the IC4As with a leap of 6 ft 10 1/4-in.
In the running events. Adam Dixon's outstanding kick remained true to form as he held back until the last lap and then blew the other runners away to easily capture the 1500.
Dwayne Jones and Brad Bunney continued their winning ways as Jones managed to edge out Tiger Peter Arduino on the last turn to take the 400 in 48.9 seconds. Meanwhile, Bunney put the Tigers out of contention for the meet with his win the 800. Steve Ezeji-Okoye won the hurdles with a time of 7.64 despite being sick all of last week.
Illness was one of the main factors in the women's frustrating performance Kathy Good was unable to compete and many of the other runners were weak.
The bright spots in the women's weekend were the 1500, the 3000, the 800 and the shot-put Jenny Stricker set a new University record in the 3000 with a time of 9 14 8, while teamate Kate Wiley finished right behind her The duo turned in another one-two finish in the 1500.
Maria Accacia won the shotput while Grace DeFries took the 800 Despite only four first place finishes, the women collected a lot of seconds and thirds and their depth should be a real asset this coming weekend at the Ivy Championships.
For the men, the teams to beat at the Heptagonals are Navy, Army, Dartmouth, and, of course. Princeton, The key will be getting runners to compete in two or even three events. For the women, the Tigers will probably be their most dangerous opponent and, as with the men, many of the women will have to compete in more than one event.
THE NOTEBOOK Paul Gompers finished second in the National Qualifying meet for the World Junior Cross Country Championships to be held March 20 in England.
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