W. Track 2nd, M. Track 5th at Heptagonals

Capping off two solid seasons, the Harvard men's and women's track and field teams finished fifth and second respectively last weekend in Heptagonals at Columbia University.

In perhaps the women's strongest showing all season, the Crimson was just shy of a first place finish, falling only to Brown by 14 points. The Bears led the meet with 128 points, while Harvard followed with 114.

Despite poor weather conditions and a headwind that prevented many runners from attaining the times they hoped for, the Crimson still pulled together for a number of personal records.

"Everyone did really well this weekend," said sophomore Marna Schutte. "Everyone came together with strong performances and there were a lot of personal records."

Sophomore Dora Gyorffy, a primary source of points for the Crimson, turned in her usual pair of victories in the triple jump and high jump. Gyorffy, named Athlete of the Meet, took the gold medal in the high jump with a height of 1.89m (6'2.25). The only athlete in the field to break six feet, she beat out the second place performer, Shawneequa Callier of Princeton, by five inches.

One of the most exciting performances of the meet, for the team and for Gyorffy personally, was the triple jump. Though it may not be reflected in the final distances, it was the tension leading up to it that was exciting.

Cornell's Danielle Brown had been leading the event going in to the final jump, and thought she had secured it by beating out Gyorffy's personal record by 20 centimeters.

With Harvard's final jump, Gyorffy not only won the event, but beat Brown's jump by 20 centimeters, topping her personal record by 40 centimeters with a distance of 12.94m (42'5.50).

Not to be outdone, sophomore Brenda Taylor competed in a total of five events, contributing greatly to the Crimson's overall score.

Involved in three gold-medal performances, and finishing no lower than the bronze in the other two, Taylor was one of the most hard-working athletes of the day.

She topped the field of competitors in the 400-meter high hurdles with a time of 56.97 seconds, as teammate Carrie McGraw followed in 61.89 seconds in fourth place.

And there was a bit of sibling rivalry evident in the 100-meter high hurdles, as Taylor competed against her sister, Lindsay in both the preliminaries and the final race.

Lindsay Taylor took the top spot in the preliminaries, while Brenda followed in third. But the final is the only race that counts, as Brenda finished first in 14.36 seconds, while Lindsay took fourth.

Taylor also finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.06 seconds, followed by

Co-Captain Heather Hanson with a time of 13.25 seconds in eighth place.

The tandem of Hanson and Schutte made their presence felt in the 200-meter dash, finishing second and third respectively. Schutte blazed through the event in 25.32 seconds, while Hanson followed quickly with a time of 25.51 seconds.

"I wasn't expecting to do so well in the 200-meter dash," Schutte said. "I'm much more of a 400-meter runner, but everything fell into place for me last weekend."

Schutte, true to form, took the gold in the 400-meter dash in 55.57 seconds, while senior Lee Shearer followed in 57.13 seconds for fifth place.

Sophomore Mary Unsworth battled the heavy headwind in the 1500-meter run, finishing in 4:33.94 for fifth place, while freshman Erin Leonard took fourth in the 3000-meter run in 17:47.01.

During the final events, Harvard continued to dominate most events, including the 4x400 meter relay. Taylor and Schutte contributed to this first place finish with a time of 3:43.74, breaking the Ivy League record by a mere .04 seconds, a major feat for this team who was consistently breaking its own personal school record.

"Princeton and Brown have been the dominant forces in the Ivy League for a long time," Taylor said. "Brown is a tough rival, but we stepped it up last weekend a lot. Actually, we did more than that. What we did last weekend was inspirational."

The men's team didn't fare as well as the women, but still put up a number of strong erformances. Princeton, a legacy in Ivy League track and field, dominated the meet with 181 points, early doubling the second place performance. The Crimson's performance was good enough for 52 points.

"We expected to finish middle of the pack, and I don't think our fifth place finish was a big isappointment," said co-captain Joe Ciollo. "Many of the guys who placed last weekend got personal bests."

Beating such rivals as Yale and Columbia, who both finished with 37 points in seventh place, the Crimson was still a formidable opponent. But unfortunately, Harvard had only one gold-medal performance last weekend.

Sophomore Christopher Clever won the javelin throw with a distance of 69.64m (228'6.00), beating out the second place performer, Rob Manning of Princeton, by only one meter. Clever, in addition to the win, broke his own school record with this toss.

Freshman Kevin Worrell took fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.42 seconds, while co-captain Joe Ciollo finished 4th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 47.93 seconds.

"I was a little bit disappointed with my time because I didn't finish very strongly," Ciollo said. "I ran out of gas in the home stretch, but it wasn't too bad. Fourth place is still respectable in Heptagonals."

The 800-meter run was another source of points, as junior Darren Dinneen finished second with a time of 1:52.31. In addition, freshman Aaron Snead took fifth in the pole vault, with a height of 4.80m (15'9.00).

The Crimson's 4x400m relay team took the bronze home with a time of 3:12.73. Harvard was also entered in the 4x100m relay, but were disqualified after the first handoff because they were out of the passing zone.

"Our team is really young, and only two key point-scorers are graduating this year," Ciollo said. "In the future they'll do even better. The road ahead looks very bright for them."

Both teams look to the next few weeks as the season draws to a close. The women's team will be competing at New Englands and ECACs in a few weeks, while the men's team competes in IC4A's towards the end of May.