Track Dominates B.C. in Opener

On Saturday, the Harvard men's and women's track and field teams continued their annual tradition of blowing out Boston College to open the indoor season.

The men doubled up Boston College with a 96-48 victory while the women won by a lopsided 87-48 margin.

As usual, captain Brenda Taylor was the women's top point-scorer with first-place finishes in the 60-meter and 200-meter sprints and the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Arthur Fergusson led the men with victories in the long jump and the triple jump.

The women's meet was also highlighted by Harvard's newest high jumper and another record-breaking throw by junior Nicky Grant.

Harvard Women 87, Boston College 48

Dora Gyorffy '01 took the semester off to train for the 2000 Sydney Olympics where she finished 18th in the world. But Harvard found a way to replace her by recruiting a freshman high jumper who can also clear six feet.

Freshman Kart Sillats cleared 1.84 meters to win the high jump--just two centimeters short of what she needed to automatically qualify for the NCAA championships.

Last year against Brown, Grant surprised everyone with a 17.5-meter toss in the 20-pound weight throw that crushed the school record.

Saturday, she surpassed that personal best with a new one of 17.71 meters that even beat last year's Ivy-best mark, set by Yale's Melanie Harris at Indoor Heps, by a hundredth of a meter.

Sophomore Helena Ronner, who won the long jump and the triple jump, was the only multi-event winner other than Taylor from the defending Heptagonal Champions.

Junior Carrie McGraw and Sophomore Amanda Shanklin won the 400-meter and 500-meter runs, respectively, to complete Harvard's domination of the shorter distances.

The Crimson failed to come out on top in any of the distance events.

Two freshmen other than Sillants won events in their Harvard debuts: Andrea Li cleared 11 feet to win the pole vault, and Breeanna Gibson made a 12.13-meter throw to win the shot put.

Harvard Men 96, Boston College 48

The Crimson was boosted by a welcome edition to its team--a healthy freshman sprinter that wins. Brendan Smith took the 60-meter (7.6 seconds) and 200-meter (22.0 seconds) sprints in his Harvard debut.

Junior Kobie Fuller won the 400-meter run in 48.7 seconds. Senior John Friedman won the 3000-meter run in 8:45 and freshman Alistair McLean-Forman won the mile with a time of 4:19 to give Harvard the advantage in the distance running.

The Crimson dominated the 60-meter hurdles, taking all four spots, with freshman Michael Whalen leading the way.

Sophomore Chris Andrew-Jaha won the high jump with a 2-meter leap and junior Aaron Snead took the pole vault by clearing the 4.50-meter bar.

Senior John Kraay, the Crimson's highest finisher at the Heptagonals last year, easily won the shot put with a toss of 15.55 meters.