Somewhere in the book of sports wisdom/cliches it says to save your best for last. Harvard's four representatives took that adage to heart in the final meet of the year at this weekend's 2000 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Senior co-captain Darren Dinneen, junior co-captain Brenda Taylor and junior Dora Gyorffy placed eighth, seventh and second in the 800 meters, 400 hurdles and high jump, respectively. For their performances, all three earned All-America honors. Taylor and Dinneen both set personal records in the process.

Junior Chris Clever placed 14th in the javelin throw, failing to advance to the finals.

Taylor and Dinneen set the pace for the Crimson in the preliminary rounds.

Dinneen finished third in his preliminary 800 meter heat with a personal best time of 1:47.76. The top two finishers in each heat gained automatic berths into the finals, but Dinneen lined up at the starting block for the last round by claiming one of two wild card slots, given to the fastest times of the remaining competitors.

On the women's side, Taylor racked up her personal best for the 400 hurdles, clocking in at 57.25, good for second in her heat. Her time was seventh overall among all the preliminary trials. In the hurdles, only the top finisher in each heat received an automatic bid, but Taylor easily received a wild card spot into the finals with her strong time.

In the finals, Dinneen found a little more personal-record magic, bettering his earlier time by .41 at 1:47.35. His time was good for eighth place, just over two seconds behind the winner, Patrick Nduwimana of Arizona, and Ivy rival Trinity Gray of Brown, who placed third after leading for the first three-quarters of the race.

Taylor ran the final race of the 400 hurdles at 57.77--just over a half-second slower than her preliminary run--to capture seventh place. Natasha Danvers of USC won the event at 55.26.