M., W. Track Still Undefeated After Brown-Cornell Sweep

At the beginning of the season, both the men's and women's indoor track teams expected to be championship contenders. With only one scored meet left before the Heptagonal Championships, both are undefeated and feeling good about their title hopes.

Harvard Women 55 Brown 52.66 Cornell 51.33

The women (4-0, 2-0 Ivy) won a close meet at Gordon Track and Tennis Center last weekend, 55-Brown 52.66-Cornell 51.33.

"It was a very important meet because Brown won the Ivy outdoor championships last year and Cornell is always very storing," said co-captain Heather Hanson. "Also, both were powerful in cross-country this year."

Hanson ran well, winning the 55-meter and 200-meter events. Her time of 7.26 seconds in the 55-meter was a personal best and was the third-fastest time in Harvard history.

"I was surprised by my 55, but I had a really great start," she said. "My previous personal best had been 7.29. I have been coming back from a [hamstring] injury, so I am happy about feeling solid and not worrying about nursing a problem.

"I also look forward to running well at Heps because Brown has one of the fastest girls and she wasn't doing well, so that made me feel good."

As usual, sophomore Dora Gyorffy cruised to wins in the high jump and triple jump. Joining Gyorffy and Hanson as winners were sophomore Marna Schutte in the 400-meter and sophomore Brenda Taylor in the 55-meter hurdles.

Harvard wrapped up the meet win when its 4x400 meter relay "pretty much dominated," in the words of Hanson. The Crimson relay team combined four of the top five individual 400-meter finishers: freshman Carrie McGraw (fifth), senior Lee Shearer (fourth), Taylor (second) and Schutte (first). The team's time was the second-fastest in school history, according to Hanson.

Although the Crimson won most of its points in the short events, it will need scoring contributions from its distance runners if it wants to challenge for a championship.

"The distance runners [including co-captain Margaret Schotte] were coming off injuries, and we also had people coming back from semesters abroad," Hanson said. "It was a big comeback meet for us. The distance runners have the talent. We just need the right timing. It's good they're all back together."

With H-Y-P the only team meet remaining before Heps, Harvard will try to get organized for the championship-deciding meets.

Harvard Men 71.5 Cornell 53 Brown 45.5

With another convincing performance, the Harvard men pulled away from the Big Red and the Bears midway through the meet to stay undefeated (4-0, 2-0 Ivy).

Senior Scott Muoio won the 3000-meter, junior Arthur Fergusson won the long jump and finished second in the triple jump, and senior Ken Hughes won the shotput.

The freshmen once again raked in the first-place finishes. John Cinelli won the 1000-meter, Kobie Fuller won the 400-meter and David Grimm won the 35-pound weight.

And co-captain Joe Ciollo broke his own school record in a losing cause. Ciollo, whose previous best in the 500-meter was 1:03.73, ran 1:03.23 but finished behind Brown's Trinity Gray, who Ciollo described as the "best 500-meter and 800-meter runner in the country."

"He ran 1:02.14, the top time in the nation this year," Ciollo said. "I ran hard and am not at all disappointed with the results. I knew that my only chance of winning the race was to hang on him and kick it at the end, but he never relaxed his pace."

The Crimson men also showed their depth by winning both the mile and two-mile relays. Sophomore Jamil Shamasdin, Fuller, freshman Richie Powell and Ciollo made up the 4x400 meter team.

Junior Lawrence Ho, co-captain Doug Lin, Cinelli and junior Dominic Patillo ran the winning 4x800 meter race.

The men also had an athlete come back from an injury, as sophomore Ed Baker placed second in the 3000-meter despite a knee problem.

Patillo finished second in the 800 with a personal-best indoor time, and sophomore Tarek Hamid finished second in the weight with a throw more than a meter better than his previous personal best.

"Around the middle of the meet, we started to pile up points in 35-pound weight and 3000, and that pretty much put the meet out of hand," Ciollo said. "We had it won before the relays."

Ciollo said that Cornell and Brown presented Harvard's best competition to date.

"We definitely stepped up our own performance," he said. "The team is progressing very well and looks to be peaking at the right time.

"But it's hard to get excited about Brown-Cornell. At Princeton-Yale in two weeks, blood will be spilled. That's what we live for."