Gyorffy Taylor, Dinneen Earn All-American Honors at NCAA Championships

Somewhere in the book of sports wisdom/cliches it says to save your best for last. Harvard's four representatives took that adage to heart in the final meet of the year at this weekend's 2000 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Senior co-captain Darren Dinneen, junior co-captain Brenda Taylor and junior Dora Gyorffy placed eighth, seventh and second in the 800 meters, 400 hurdles and high jump, respectively. For their performances, all three earned All-America honors. Taylor and Dinneen both set personal records in the process.

Junior Chris Clever placed 14th in the javelin throw, failing to advance to the finals.

Taylor and Dinneen set the pace for the Crimson in the preliminary rounds.

Dinneen finished third in his preliminary 800 meter heat with a personal best time of 1:47.76. The top two finishers in each heat gained automatic berths into the finals, but Dinneen lined up at the starting block for the last round by claiming one of two wild card slots, given to the fastest times of the remaining competitors.

On the women's side, Taylor racked up her personal best for the 400 hurdles, clocking in at 57.25, good for second in her heat. Her time was seventh overall among all the preliminary trials. In the hurdles, only the top finisher in each heat received an automatic bid, but Taylor easily received a wild card spot into the finals with her strong time.

In the finals, Dinneen found a little more personal-record magic, bettering his earlier time by .41 at 1:47.35. His time was good for eighth place, just over two seconds behind the winner, Patrick Nduwimana of Arizona, and Ivy rival Trinity Gray of Brown, who placed third after leading for the first three-quarters of the race.

Taylor ran the final race of the 400 hurdles at 57.77--just over a half-second slower than her preliminary run--to capture seventh place. Natasha Danvers of USC won the event at 55.26.

Both Dinneen and Taylor had taken All-American honors last year as well.

If Gyorffy set a personal best in the high jump, she would have set a new NCAA record with at least a 1.98-meter jump. At Heptagonals, she tied the NCAA indoor high jump record by leaping 1.97 meters. She also won the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, clearing 1.94 meters.

In the finals, Gyorffy found herself essentially going one-on-one with her top rival, Erin Aldrich of Texas. Both competitors easily cleared 1.87 in the first round. They then moved on to 1.90, where Aldrich nailed her jump but Gyorffy faltered.

Gyorffy could've attempted the 1.90 jump again, and her past performances suggest that she would've connected if given another try. Instead, Gyorffy opted to follow Aldrich to the 1.94 level that she won the March tournament with. Neither competitor could clear the bar, and Aldrich brought the title to Texas at 1.90.

Next up for Gyorffy, who has won All-American honors at both NCAA Indoors and Outdoors in each of her three years at Harvard, will be the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She will represent Hungary at the Games and in summer meets in Europe.

In the javelin throw, Clever placed fourteenth overall with a toss of 65.78 meters (215'10) in the first flight of the preliminary rounds.

The throw was good for seventh in his heat, but only the top nine performers of the two heats advanced to the finals.

Clever was an All-American last year and won the javelin throw at the Outdoor Heptagonals in mid-May.

Taylor and Gyorffy combined for 10 overall team points for Harvard in the women's division. As a team the Crimson finished tied for 23rd overall with Rice, Georgetown, Florida A&M, Wyoming and Akron. Louisiana State was the overall champion.

For the men, Dinneen brought home Harvard's lone team point tying it for 72nd overall. Stanford won the men's division.