Outdoor Track and Field
The men's and women's track and field teams were involved in a total of six meets during the spring season that culminated in the Heptagonal Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 10-11 at Penn.
Heading into Heps, the women were counting on two talented distance runners in Angell and Schotte to place near the top. Angell had recorded a 2:16.2 in the 800 and a 4:34.92 in the 1500 earlier in the spring, while Schotte had put together a not-too-shabby time of 10:09.24.
The women also looked to their strong shot putter and 400 hurdler (a rare combination) in Penningroth as well as to their solid long and triple jumper, Lodewick. The Ipswich, MA native won both field events against Yale in an earlier spring dual meet and had become a regular first-place finisher.
While the women finished a disappointing seventh place at Heps, rising freshman star Kristy Johnson made the All-Ivy Second team with her 45.80-meter toss in the hammer throw. Cornell and Princeton dominated almost all the events at Heps, and the Big Red eventually won the title by only a half a point over Princeton.
The men's team was led in the spring once again by Carswell and Lonergan. The men's team was also joined by junior Ethan Philpott, known not only for his bone-crushing body checks on the men's hockey team, but also for his power in the shot-put, as well as fellow thrower and co-captain Mark Clayman.
Both Philpott and Clayman earned top finishes in their events throughout the spring. Junior Husani Barnwell, a triple and long jumper, sophomore Joe Ciollo, a 400 and 800 specialist and Brian Young, a 100-meter dasher, also earned some blue ribbons for the Crimson in the spring season. It was this corps of athletes that Harvard was counting on heading into Heps to end its season.
The men did finish higher than last-season's ninth-place finish, but just barely. The Crimson tied for eighth place in the nine- team field, but Carswell came through once again in the 5,000- meter event. Carswell's winning time of 14:27.98 beat out Chris Langan of Dartmouth to earn him a spot on the First Team All-Ivy.
With Carswell and Lonergan lost to graduation this year, the men have some enormous shoes to fill next season. Dinneen is one potential star for whom Harvard has high expectations in the 1997 cross-country season.
The women will return a good proportion of its top runners next year so their situation is a little less foreboding. Hopefully Harvard can avoid slipping further into the Ivy League's lower echelon.