DEFEAT OF RELAY TEAM.

Post mortem discussions of athletic events are never pleasant, especially when a Harvard team has been defeated; but when the defeat is due to a flagrant violation of the first principles of coaching, it cannot pass without a word of protest.

On Saturday night the University relay team, one of the strongest that ever represented Harvard, met defeat at the hands of a Yale team, simply because the fact was blindly ignored that a good runner out of condition is not so efficient as a less able one who is physically fit. Coach Lothrop was directly responsible for an error in judgment, Captain Dodge indirectly so, because he was not on hand to oversee the team. The material was there, but the foresight and headwork were lacking. In this respect Yale was superior, and we do not wish to belittle her victory. But when defeat has come as the result of our own negligence and folly it is doubly hard to bear.