The reaction of Co-Captain Steve Ezeji-Okoye told the whole story. While the Northeastern runners were prancing around the ITT track, the Crimson middle distance standout was sitting on the infield banging his head against the ground.
Saturday's meet between the Harvard men's indoor track team and the Northeastern Huskies had come down to the mile-and two-mile relays, and if the Crimson was going to knotch its first victory over its cross-river rival in more than five years, it needed to win both races.
But, despite a courageous comeback by the Crimson mile relay squad, the quatermilers finished a half a second too late and the Harvard men fell to the Huskies, 70-66
Of course, the afternoon was not one of complete for the Crimson thinclads, as the women had their first win of the season, a convincing 78-45 thrashing of Northeastern.
This first mark in the win column was particularly rewarding because it was an overall team effort. The sprinting corps, who had less than stellar performances in the first two meets, played a large role in leading the squad to victory.
Freshman Dele Fayemi pulled off an impressive double, finishing first in both the 60-yd. and 220-yd. dashes, while fellow Yardling Yamilee Bermingham was the first to break the tape in the quarter mile.
The women also looked strong in the field events and distance races. Junior Jackie Boudreau and senior Janet Judge took first and second place respectively in both the triple and high jump, while Co-Captain Mariquita Patterson and junior Theresa Moore took those very same sports in the long jump. Not to be outdone, the distance corps won the 880, mile and 5000-meter competitions.
Nailbiter
While the Crimson women were cruising to victory, their male counterparts were engaged in a nailbiter. Despite Northeastern's domination of the throwing events. Harvard had narrowed its deficit to only four points before the relays.
Instrumental in this comeback was senior Mark Henry's domination of the jumping events, as he personally added 15 points to the Crimson's tally with wins in the high, triple and long jumps.
But it was a sweep of the 880, led by Cliff Sheehan, Co-Captain John Perkins' narrow victory in the 1000, and second and third place finishes in the 5000 that set up the dramatic relay confrontation.
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Wiesel Leaves