Runners Seventh at Easterns

Strength doesn't always come in numbers.

At least that's what the Harvard women's track team demonstrated last weekend when an attenuated thinclad corps traveled to St. John's University in Queens. New York, where it placed seventh at the Eastern AIAW Track and Field Championships.

Although more than 20 Harvard team members qualified for last weekend's championship, only seven decided to complete. Among those who opted to stay in Cambridge to sun and study were All-Americans Darlenc Beckford and Kate Wiley, as well as University pentathion, heptathlon and hurdles record holder Mariquita "Skeets" Patterson.

Personal Best

Penn State--which easily defended its title--was led by top-notch competitors like Patty Murnune, who loped to a hard-fought first place in the 1500 ahead of Harvard senior co-captain Mary Herlihy. Running neck-and-neck with Murnane throughout the race, Herlihy was barely beaten at the finish, despite running a personal best of 4:22. Freshman Mary-Jeanne Barrett also ran her best time ever, taking third with a time of 4:25.

The brightest spot for Harvard came at the end of the championships in the two-mile relay. Barrett led off the Crimson charge, eking out a small lead over Penn State's Munane, then Grace deFires took over and hung on. Herlihy, running third, passed Penn's competitor in the final stretch of her leg, and freshman All-American Jenny Stricker put the icing on the win, solidifying a new University record of 8:53 in the process.

Delightful

Head Coach Pappy Hunt lauded the relay last night, calling the quarter's effort "delightful. Especially because we did it without Darlenc. Those girls ran so tough--they covered themselves with glory."

Other Crimson thinclads who competed in individual events were freshman Kathy Goode and sophomore deFries. Goode nabbed a sixth place in the 3000 with a 10:01, and deFries ran a 2:14 in the 880 to finish fifth--"Grace was bumped and boxed around," Hunt noted.

Representing Harvard in the field events were senior co-captain Kim Johnson and freshman Maric Acacia, who completed in the shot put and discus. Johnson equaled her best throw--44 ft.--to take seventh in the shot, and she also notched a personal best in the discus with a 127-ft. loss, just one inch shy of Acacia's school record.

The last event on the thinclads' roster for this season is the National AIAW Championship at Texas A & M in two weeks. Because of the drain of college talent to the NCAA this year, as well as being scheduled during Harvard's exams, most Harvard qualifiers have indicated that they will not compete.