WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE TRACK TEAM?

The winter season of the track team ended on Saturday with a brilliant victory by the relay team. There have been other races won during the last few months but no one in the University knows it. The first days of training for the track team that will represent Harvard in May are close at hand, but no one realizes the fact. People outside of Cambridge, our rivals at Cornell and Yale keep a watchful eye on Harvard's track activities. No one here seems to care whether Harvard has a track team or not. No one knows when a relay team is entered in a meet, and no one congratulates the victorious runners. What are the reasons for this unprecedented condition of apathy?

There have been any number of winning track teams in the past, and no very revolutionary changes have occurred since victories were the rule. With 2,500 men to draw from, the amount of raw material is sufficient for two track teams. Yet in 1915 Harvard had only one entry for the hammer-throw and three entries for the pole-vault in the Yale meet. Last year Harvard entered three men to Yale's eleven in the hammer-throw, and three men to Yale's ten in the high jump. At the beginning of this winter's season fifty men reported for practice, and during the last week there were only twenty faithful who had been willing to stay by the ship. At the recent Triangular Meet held in Boston there were perhaps seventy-five men from the University who supported the Harvard contestants.

These are facts, and facts that point to one conclusion: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

Without doubt there is a wealth of possible point-winners in College, if proper pressure could be applied to force them to come out. There are coaches on the field ready to aid men in every possible way. A track management and a graduate track committee exist for the supervision and development of track teams at Harvard. In other words Harvard has raw material, an adequate plant, and skilled workers, but cannot turn out the finished product. What is the matter with the track team?