Harvard sophomore Meredith Rainey qualified for the NCAA championships Saturday with her 54.57 time in 400-meters at a tri-meet held at the Gordon Track and Tennis Center.

However, Rainey's performance was not enough to lift the Harvard women's track team to victory. The Crimson placed second in the three team meet behind Dartmouth. The men's team placed third in its meet.

Unbeaten and coming off its victory in the Greater Boston Championships, the Crimson expected to add another notch to its belt.

No Alibi Ike

"We've had some tough meets this year," Co-Captain Katie Toner said. "But overall I think we were a little flat."

Megan Young jumped 5-ft., 4-in. in the high jump to place third.

In all, the women garnered 46 points, finishing 16 points behind first-place Dartmouth. Brown pulled up the rear with 31 points.

"Dartmouth was the better team Saturday," said Toner. "Overall, we have more depth, and we can beat them the next time we meet [in the Heptagonals]."

While the women were disappointed with their loss, the men were still optimistic despite a third-place finish.

"We're not at all disppointed," Co-Captain James Russel said. "In actual fact, it's encouraging. We were pleased with the number of personal-bests performances against top-caliber competition."

The Crimson was racing against Dartmouth, which finished second in the cross-country championships, and perenially tough Brown.

Three different trackmen posted career-best performances, and John Koenigsknecht captured the 500-meter race with a time of 1:05.

Junior Rutledge Simmons leaped 44-ft., 7-in. in the triple jump, Tim Harte finished the 1000-meter race in 2:30, Chris Sullivan jumped 6-ft., 8-in. in the high jump, and Nick Sweeney racked up a pair of third place finishes in two field events.

Sweeney had a pair of personal bests, throwing the shot-put 50-ft., 11-1/2 in., and the 35-Ib. weight 57-ft., 7-in.

Darmtouth rolled up 85 points, Brown 56 points, while Harvard finished with 24 points.