Women Harriers Headed for Nationals; Men Finish Up With Fifth at IC4A's

The women's cross-country team will be making tracks for Pennsylvania next week. The undefeated squad scraped past Boston University on Saturday to take first place in the NCAA District 1 qualifying meet.

The win, which assures the team a berth in the NCAA finals next Monday at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn., was the harriers' closest race this season.

Harvard squeaked past B.U. 64-63 with junior Kate Wiley taking first, sophomore Lois Brommer in 11th, junior Kathy Good nabbing 12th, junior Miriam Keltz in 16th, and junior Army Simon coming in 23rd.

But B.U. missed 47th place and a tie with Harvard by one second.

The win was not unexpected, Coach Denis Cochran-Fikes said, but the meet was plagued by bad weather.

"It was cold, snow was falling, and the course was really wet," said Wiley, adding that the team went into the meet feeling confident. "But we knew Boston University would be our major competitor, and it was closer than we expected," she added.

Only one eastern team participates in the NCAA finals each year. Harvard went to last year's championship and won fourth place in an upset victory.

Captain Grace de Fries said they hope to equal last year's finish in the NCAAs. "Last year, people didn't think we could do it," she said. "We're really expecting to show everyone that we are serious."

Men at IC4A's

The men, however, were not as successful as the women this weekend. On Saturday at Lehigh University they finished fifth in the IC4A's, ending their season and dashing hopes for a return trip next weekend to the Nationals.

"The problem with our team," said captain Felix Rippy, "is that we peaked too early. We weren't able to sustain our peak for this meet. We trained too hard at the beginning of the season."

Dartmouth, the winner of the race, did peak Saturday, winning the berth, along with second place finisher Providence, in the NCAA finals. Also finishing in front of the Crimson were Boston University and Northeastern. Though the harriers best Dartmouth and Northeastern earlier this year, they were just too tired to pull off a victory on Saturday. "We are relieved the season is over. This is the first guilt-free day we have enjoyed since June," Rippy said.

The season was not disappointing for the Crimson, as it finished 6-2 in dual meets, Harvard's best record in the last three years. The harriers shut out their first three opponents, and then just missed holding Cornell and Brown scoreless. But as the season wore on, their effectiveness lingered.

The first four Harvard finishers from Saturday's race, Andy Gerkin, Paul Gompers. Peter Jelley, and Cliff Sheehan will be returning next year to give the harriers the nucleus of a team that could improve on this season's record.