Junior Ian M. Carswell finished seventh in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Division I Championships Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.

His time of 14:03.50 in the finals was less than 16 seconds behind the winner, Alan Culpepper of the University of Colorado.

Senior Darin J. Shearer placed sixth in last Wednesday's preliminary heats for the 3,000-meter steeplechase. His time of 8:48.89 was just 2.55 seconds shy of qualifying for the semifinals.

Both runners qualified for the NCAA Championships at the IC4A regional qualifying trials on May 17-19.

Carswell actually ran a better time in the preliminaries, when he came in fifth with a time of 13:51.96. The top four runners in each preliminary make the finals, as well as the four next-best times.

In the team standings, Harvard and Columbia tied for 64th out of a field of 68 schools with two points. They were the only Ivy League schools to send students to the championships, which were dominated by schools from the South and West.

Carswell and Shearer were two bright stars in the otherwise dim constellation that was the 1996 men's track team, which was plagued by injuries all season.

At the Ivy League Heptagonal Meet--the equivalent of the Ivy League championship--on May 6, Carswell and Shearer both performed well. Carswell won the 5000 meter race, finishing 14:21.29, eight seconds ahead of the runner-up. Shearer came in third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 8:45.02, which automatically qualified him for the NCAA Championships.

Last fall, Carswell led the men's country team and took 17th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships' 10,000-meter run. Carswell was Harvard's first All-American male runner since Paul Gompers '86-'87.