Almost Perfect

This spring season was the Harvard Women's track squad's ninth. And after a 4-0 record, a Greater Boston Championships win, and a third-place finish in the Heptagonals it's obvious that the tracksters didn't have to wait a decade to reach prosperity. Add to that three new school records and you have the ingredients of a big season.

"This year we proved we are a very good team," says senior Co-Captain Grace deFries. "We performed much better as a team outdoors than we did indoors this past winter."

Considering the fact that the Crimson assembled a 6-1 record this winter, an even stronger spring season meant that the tracksters were good. Very good.

Last year, the Crimson lost the Heptagonals, which marks the end of the season, by a mere two points. This spring, the Heps again loomed as the real test of a strength: And this year's third place finish was all that marred an otherwise perfect season.

With 15 letterwinners back from last year's team, the thinclads entered the outdoor season extremely optimistic. "The season was met with a lot of excitement, because of our new outdoor track," recalls senior Co-Captain Kathrya Busby. "We had decided to really enjoy our running and than worry about the team's success."

And as Harvard enjoyed itself, opponents suffered. On April 7, Northeastern had a hard time enjoying itself as the Crimson creamed the cross-town Huskies by 21 points.

A week later, students in Hanover, N.H. didn't laugh either. Harvard ran by both the Big Green and Brown, scoring more points than Dartmouth and the Bruins combined. The Crimson won all but four events. In Hanover, Grace deFries--grabbed first place in the 800 and 1500-meters, and Jacqueline Boudrean took the javelin and high jump to pave the way.

The show continued against Yale. Harvard outscored the sluggish Bulldogs by 55 points, ensuring a perfect mark in dual meets. Against the Elis, the Crimson finished as victors in all but three events and second in eight of them.

And in the Yale meet, three new school records were set: Mariquits Patterson long jumped an unprecedented 19-21/2 feet. Theresa Moore ran the 100 meters in a dashing 12.1 seconds, and Busby breezed by all competition in 25.1 seconds in the 200 meter.

With four straight victories in hand, the Crimson went on to place first in the Greater Boston Championships, ahead of Boston University by 11 points. Slim victory it was, but it was still another victory for a Harvard team gearing up for its last and biggest test: the Heptagonals.

Well and safe at the Heps, May 5 and 6, the Crimson mustered an admirable showing. Very good, as a matter of fact--the tracksters set six new school records--but not perfect.

By the time it was over, Army outdistanced second place University of Pennsylvania by 20 points and third place Harvard by 43 points. It was not an unexpected Cadet win nor was it an unexpected third place finish for Harvard.

But after a perfect spring season, it was certainly not a desired result for the Crimson. At Army's Shen Stadium, the Crimson rallied for two relay victories that left the entire women's Heptagonal field behind. Harvard ran the 400-meters in 47.81 seconds and the 1600-meters in 3:52.71. Both the previous records had been set at last year's Hops, the latter now broken by as much as 8.81 seconds.

Other records consoled the Harvard squad as well. Busby set a new school best by winning the 400 meters in 56.54 seconds; Pattarson handled 100 meters in a swift 14.17 seconds; Moore dashed 100 meters in a quick 12.18 seconds; and Kathleen Durante's 132-foot discus throw found its way into the record books, too.