In any sport, there is a certain mystique associated with competition between Harvard and Yale. Track is no exception.

“You want to make it clear to them that you’re the more powerful team out there,” sophomore Alex Petrone said.

Both Harvard track teams did so convincingly yesterday. The women swept the throwing events en route to a 99-64 victory, while outstanding performances from co-captain Kobie Fuller and junior Chris Lambert spurred the men to an 87-72 triumph.

Harvard Women

The Crimson outscored the Bulldogs by a commanding 67-5 margin in the field events and cruised to a 35-point win.

Co-captain Nicky Grant turned in the day’s most dominating outing, setting the Harvard and Ivy League record by throwing the hammer 56.82 meters. In doing so, Grant, who already holds the school record in the weight throw, met the provisional NCAA qualifying standard.

Sophomores Johanna Doyle and BreeAnna Gibson finished second and third, respectively, behind Grant.

Gibson also led Crimson sweeps in the shot put and the discus, with throws of 12.64 meters and 40.72 meters, respectively. Even though Yale didn’t enter a competitor in the discus, Harvard’s throwers still had to compete with a steady rain that fell during the event.

“You have to be more conservative in the rain,” Gibson said. “You can’t go after it quite as much.”

Gibson completed her day by taking second while competing in the javelin for the first time. Petrone won the event with a throw of 43.02 meters, breaking her own school record by over two meters.

“All week I’d focused more on technique than I had previously,” Petrone said. “It’s amazing how much of the throws is technique.”

Junior Amy Bei came out on top of yet another Crimson sweep, this one in the pole vault.

Junior Helena Ronner won three events for Harvard, capturing both the triple and long jumps and spearheading a Harvard sweep in the 100-meter dash.

Junior Amanda Shanklin took second in the triple jump and third in the high jump behind Ronner and also scored points in the three other events in which she competed.

In the high jump, the Crimson received encouraging news when senior and 2001 NCAA champion Kart Siilats took first in her return from a pulled hamstring she suffered before the indoor NCAA championships. Siilats was followed by sophomore Sandra Venghaus.