Track Squad Beats Penn, Cornell By Large Margins in Triangulars

In a triangular meet which was supposed to be its closest contest so far this season, the varsity track team trounced a strong Penn squad, 86 1/2 to 58 1/2, Saturday in the Stadium. Cornell finished far back with 28 points.

Dyke Benjamin won two exciting battles with Cornell distance runners to lead the Crimson's romp. In the mile, Arnold Cummins of Cornell passed Benjamin with a lap to go, and for a moment it seemed he might outrun the Crimson ace. But Benjamin countered with a devastating kick and beat Cummins to the tape by five yards in 4:14.8.

An hour later Benjamin faced the Big Red's Nat Cravener in the two-mile. The two men raced neck-and-neck until Cravener passed Benjamin with two laps to go. Again Benjamin turned on his overwhelming finishing kick, winning this time by more than 15 yards in the meet record time of 9:13.0.

Crimson hurdler Joel Landau remained relatively unnoticed while contributing 13 points to the varsity's total. Although his form was still a trifle off, he won the high hurdles in 14.9 and the lows in 24.4. Running the 220 dash for the first time this season, he was barely edged by Penn's Dave Coffin in a fast 21.2.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the meet was Crimson sophomore Frank Yeomans in the 100. Competing against Coffin and Cornell's George Ekstrom, he took a slim lead after 50 yards and held it the rest of the way to give the varsity an unexpected five points.

The meet would have been a complete rout for the Crimson if it had not been for Quaker George Katterman. One of the strongest runners ever to compete here, Katterman won the 440 handily when Crimson captain Albie Gordon waited too long before challenging him.

Just 40 minutes later, Katterman came back in the 880 and set such a withering pace that he was all alone at the finish. His time, the new meet mark, was a magnificent 1:52.8.

But Katterman was not through yet. After the Quaker and Crimson mile relay teams had battled it out for three laps, he and Gordon hooked up in another battle, with Katterman coming home first. The team's 3:19.8 was good for another meet record.

Overlooked behind winner Carl Shine of Penn in the shot put was the Crimson's Hank Abbot, (pictured above, right), who broke up a possible one-two Quaker sweep by throwing the 16-1b. ball 52 ft., 3 in. for a new University record. John Bronstein, Stan Doten, and John deKiewiet took ten discus points.

Two additional meet records fell in the field events. The Crimson's Tom Blodgett won the javelin with a toss of 190 ft., 10 in., and edged out teammate Skip Pescosolido and Cornell's John Murray with 13 ft., 7 1/4 in. in the pole vault.

In the hammer throw, Doten uncorked a tremendous 174 ft., 6 in. heave to beat teammate Jim Doty. Pat Liles and Bob Downs cut into Penn's broad jump strength by taking second and third.

DeKiewiet continued his consistent performance in the high jump, scaling 6 ft., 2 in. and leaving co-favorite Andy Wohlgemuth of Penn in a tie for second with the varsity's Bob Downs.