The March 28 issue of Sports Illustrated includes sophomore trackwoman Meredith Rainey in the Faces in the Crowd section, a feature that recognizes amateur athletes for their performances. Rainey's 53:89 time in the 400-meter race at the Heptagonals Track and Field Championships last week broke the mark set by Columbia's Heather Ruddock (55:45).

This is the third time members of the Harvard athletic community have been featured in the magazine this year. The magazine covered Harvard's Ivy League Championship football victory over Yale, and it did a feature on Harvard's freshman basketball star Ralph James last month.

Ranked

Harvard currently has three teams ranked in national polls. The Harvard men's lacrosse team is ranked seventh, the women's water polo team is ranked 10th and the women's tennis team is ranked 24th.

The laxmen moved up to number seven from 15 after defeating 1987 NCAA runner-up Cornell, 7-6.

Now There Are Two

Judith Davidson was named Athletic Director at Central Connecticut this week. She is only the second woman to head a Division I men's and women program. Duquesne's Eileen Livingston is the other. There are several women that oversee Division I women's athletic departments.

Other Sporting News

MIT Sophomore Yvonne Grierson set an NCAA Division III record in the 100-yard butterfly last Friday. Her winning time of 56:18 broke the previous national record by more than half a second. This marked MIT's first ever national record in swimming.

You'da Thunk...

The Boston College lacrosse team showed up to play the Harvard squad wearing Astro Turf shoes rather than cleats.

The Eagles' turf shoes would have been more effective in its own carpeted stadium, rather than for the grass surface of Ohiri Field.

As Boston College was slip-sliding along the natural surface, it was also slip-sliding away on the scoreboard. Harvard won easily, 9-2.

The Cornell men's polo team lost 20-10 to Virginia in the final of the 65th Annual Intercollegiate Polo Championship. It would have been Cornell's first national polo title in 22 years. Oh, darn.

NIT

While the men's NCAA tournament is grabbing all of the headlines and pools, the quarterfinal rounds of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) start this weekend.

Boston College (17-13), the only Massachusetts school in the tournament, has been impressive. The Eagles reached the quarterfinals of the NIT with an 86-81 victory over Evansville. Sophomore Dana Barros, famous for his 360-Spin shot he made against Harvard in December, had a game-high 32 points and hit five of six three-pointers.

Boston College will face Middle Tennessee (23-10) this Saturday in Tennessee. The Eagles recorded a 121-80 victory over Harvard. Barros scored only 26 against the Crimson.

Other NIT games include Virginia Commonwealth (23-11) at UConn (17-14), Ohio State (18-12) traveling to New Mexico (22-13) while Arkansas State (21-13) visits Colorado State (20-12). The finals will be held at Madison Square Garden, March 30.

A long way to Tacoma

The men's NCAA tournament is called The Road to the Final Four, while the interesting--but overlooked women's NCAA tournament--is called The Road to Tacoma. In the East region, Tennessee (29-2) meets James Madision (27-3) while Virginia (26-4) battles Rutgers (27-4) today in Norfolk, Va.

The Mideast regional in Athens, Georgia, features Maryland (26-5) versus Ohio State (25-9) and Georgia (21-9) against Auburn.

In the Midwest Regional at Austin Texas, Lousiana Tech (28-2) meets Mississippi (24-6) while Texas (30-2) gives a Texas welcome to Stanford. In the West Regional at Long Beach California, Long Beach State (23-5) hosts Washington (25-5). Iowa (30-1), the tournaments favorites, takes on USC (22-7). The finals will be held at Tacoma, Washington.

Quote of the Week

"It would be nice to go to Lake Placid for another reason besides fishing."--St.Lawerence Coach Joe Marsh when asked about the possibility of playing at Lake Placid, which is only 10 miles from St. Lawerence University. The NCAA Hockey semifinals and finals will be played at Lake Placid.

Contributor: Alvar J. Mattei.