Dartmouth Cops N.E. Track and Field Title

Dartmouth ran away with the title Saturday in the 101st New England Track and Field Championships at Dedham. The Big Green won with a record 147 points, the most ever scored in the history of the meet.

Northeastern had the home advantage of Solomon Track, plus the added advantage of being the returning champion for the past five years.

But Dartmouth flew past Northeastern and the rest of the competition, outscoring the host Huskies by 78 points.

Middle of the Pack

Except for two individual placewinners, Harvard had a dismal performance. The Crimson totaled 11 points on the day to finish 15th out of 29 teams.

The harshest blow for the Crimson squad came when pole vaulter Mike Short missed the vaulting pit and fell to the ground, fracturing his left elbow.

Harvard's only highlights were in the discus and high jump. Junior Chris Sullivan took sixth place in the high jump, clearing 6-ft., 8-3/4 in., and freshman Nic Sweeney was runner-up in the discus with a throw spanning 173-ft., 7-in.

In the sprints, Boston College's Rob Davis won the 100-meter dash in 10.88 seconds, and Thorb Towles won the 200-meter dash for Boston University with a time of 21.29 seconds. In the 400-meter dash. Fitchburg State's Brian Crossman took first with a time of 47.13 seconds.

In the long distance races, Frank Conway won the 1500-meter run for Providence with a time of 3:44.7. Dartmouth's Brian Lenihan finished the 3000-meter steeplechase in 8:56.4 for first place, and Thomas Parker took the 5000 meters for the Big Green with a time of 14:11.3.

Dartmouth placed three throwers in the finals of both the discus and shot put events, including a first place finish in the discus by Martin Perkins with a throw of 173-ft., 10-in.

The strength of Dartmouth's track program first blossomed when the Big Green won the cross-country Heptagonal championship last fall. In February, Dartmouth proceeded to win the indoor Heps for the first time ever. Then last weekend, the Big Green dominated the outdoor Heps with a convincing victory.

The Harvard men's track team will travel to Villanova next weekend to compete in the IC4A's.