Pardee, Chiappa, Hewlett Star in Weekend Meets; Awori Injures Ankle in BAA High Hurdles Final

When the varsity track team crushed Army, last year's Heptagonal champion, by the whopping score of 75-34 in December, sports scribes picked the Crimson as the overwhelming favorite to take the 1964 Heps crown--if the team's younger performers, Chris Pardee, Keith Chiappa, and Walt Hewlett could continue their impressive rate of improvement.

These three and some other fresh faces exceeded all expectations at the Millrose Games in New York on Thursday and the BAA meet in Boston Saturday night, but a freak ankle injury to sprint star Aggrey Awori may make December's prediction pure fancy.

Pardee Sets Harvard Record

Sophomore Pardee jumped 6 ft., 7 in, in New York, and just missed on his try for 6 ft., 10 in., a height that only one of the contenders, Olympic medal-winner John Thomas, was able to clear. Pardee bettered that performance in Boston, soaring 6 ft., 8 1/4 in. for a personal high and a Harvard record.

The two-mile relay squad, led by junior Chiappa, also topped a college mark, posting a 7:41.6 time in New York. The time was 8.4 seconds faster than the existing record, but will not count, because the required three watches weren't timing the Crimson runners.

Chiappa led the relay team to a fourth place finish in Boston, and also turned in an impressive 50.0 in the 440-yard run, good for third place in a strong field.

Sophomore Hewlett, the leading runner on the Crimson cross country team last fall, scored a remarkable 9:02.5 in the two-mile run Saturday in his first performance ever indoors. The previous best time by a Harvard two-miler on the boards was 9:21.

But the injury to Awori, in the final heat of the BAA's 45-yard high hurdles, soured much of the jubilation produced by these stellar performances. Awori, who took first place in both the 60-yard dash and 60-yard hurdles in last year's Heptagonals, hit his ankle hard Saturday on the first hurdle, knocked down the next two, and finished last. He sat out the finals of the 50-yard dash, for which he had qualified by placing third in his semi-final heat.

Team May Be Hurting

Just how serious the injury is will not be known until trainers and coach Bill McCurdy examine the star sprinter today. But McCurdy warned that if the injury is bad enough to upset the Ugandan's training schedule, the team will be hurting for a sprinter. "Aggrey needs some hard practice right now," McCurdy said, "and if this thing turns out to be more than just a painful bruise, he won't be able to get it."

If it is just a bruise, the Crimson should have more than enough for Yale and Princeton later this month, and should win the Heps. John Ogden demonstrated Saturday he can win in his own class, finishing first in 1:56.2 in the BAA's 880-yard run for New England collegians. Chris Ohiri took second place in the broad jump with a leap of 23 ft., 6 in. and sophomore Robert Yee captured fifth with 21 ft., 2 1/8 in. Captain Ed Meehan was timed in 2:12.5 in the 1000-yard run, only 1.4 off the winning pace.

In field events, Art Croasdale threw the shot 53 ft., 1/4 in. Saturday, placing second among collegians, and heaved the 35 lb. weight an impressive 59 ft., 1 1/2 in. Jay Mahaney, who pole vaulted 13 ft., 6 in. against Army but didn't compete in either meet last week, is still somewhat of an unknown quantity.

Two Problems

The team's problems seem to be a lack of strength behind Croasdale in the weight events, and the mile relay team. The mile squad placed fourth in its heat in New York and did the same in Boston, finishing in an unofficial time of 3:28. But according to coach McCurdy, the team has only one problem, conditioning, and should show marked improvement this month.