Overall, however, Harvard was disappointed by its performance at Heps. The fifth-place finish put Harvard behind Brown (first, 36), Cornell (second, 71), Columbia (third, 81) and Dartmouth (fourth, 111).

While Helms ran an impressive race, Harvard's next runners placed 21st and 27th, and the team members think they should have done better than they did.

Sophomore Leann Hymas (18:45.9), who finished 24th in all of New England two weeks ago, took 21st place on Friday in the much smaller field of runners. Right behind her, sophomore Mary Unsworth (18:54.6) finished 27th.

Harvard has been working on narrowing the gap between its lead runner and the next bunch of runners, but, though running in a tight pack at New Englands, it failed to do so on Friday.

The team is looking to improve its performance at NCAAs, and despite Helms' successful race Friday, she has decided not to enjoy her exceptional performance for too long.

"I know I can run better," Helms said, "so I'm not looking at Heps as some sort of culmination point but looking forward to Regionals as a realistic opportunity to go to Nationals."

Indeed, the team plans to work hard in the coming weeks to ensure a respectable performance at NCAAs by trying to run in a tight pack so that more individuals, and perhaps the team, will have a chance at qualifying for Nationals.

"With two more weeks of tapering," Helms said, "we should be in even better shape for NCAA Regionals."