*The women's lacrosse team rode a late season streak to reach its first Ivy title and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament before dropping a heartbreaker to UMass.
* The women's Beanpot earned the privilege to reside in Cambridge one more year, as the women's hockey team knocked off Northeastern to win Greater Boston bragging rights for the second consecutive time.
* The men's volleyball team dumped Princeton to take top honors at the unofficial Ivy tournament.
* The men's fencing team placed third at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships the squad's highest finish in 86 years.
The successes reflect four years of excellent recruiting, the first of which brought the seniors who spearheaded this year's amazing seasons.
So many of the now-graduated athletes achieved outstanding success that there were a slew of candidates for the Athletic Department's end-of-the-year MVI awards. In the end there were four MVPs. Fusco shared the men's award with quarterback and outfielder Don Allard, and Maureen Finn (lacrosse and field hockey) and Francesca DenHartog (lacrosse) both earned the women's award.
But those four and their classmates are gone this year, leaving big shoes to fill and bigger records to break. The task of maintaining Harvard's athletic dominance passes onto the Class of '84, with help from numbers '85-'87. Just what Harvard fans can expect from the Class of '87 is discussed on page 1. It is clear that this year should be another good one for Crimson athletics, but it's unlikely to be, successful as last year.
Explains Athletic Director John P. Reardon Jr. '60, "A lot of things came together [last year]. I'm not sure they ever will again."
This article was reprinted from The Crimson's Special Commencement issue of June 9, 1983. Parts of it were updated.