Spring Additions Boost Trackmen; Heptagonal Crown Looms as Goal

When you've won all your winter dual meets, taken the indoor Heps, and have the league's best discus thrower and hop-step-and-jumper just waiting for April to show their stuff you're a good bet to give Harvard its first outdoor Heptagonal crown in eight long years.

Track coach Bill McCurdy shrugs at the mention of the word "favorite," but he knows he has the guns. And he makes no bones about having his sights set on May 16, when his runners will be shooting for that elusive Heps championship at Yale.

One good reason why the spring trackmen should be even stronger than their winter counterparts is John Bakkensen. Bakkensen has consistently hurled the discus near the 170-foot mark, and copped the Heps title last year with a mere 158 ft., 1 1/2 in. toss. He could score a first place in every meet this season, with teammates Bill Pfeiffer and Tom Dillon battling the opposition for the lower positions.

Another outdoor extra comes in the hop, step, and jump, where Chris Ohiri paces a strong Crimson contingent. Ohiri's 50-foot-plus efforts put him in a class of his own in this event, but sophomores Olufemi Olunloyo and Chris Pardee, who both posted leaps near the 46-foot mark as freshmen, should develop into consistent scorers.

The Crimson forces are not so strong in the hammer throw and the javelin, the other exclusively outdoor field events, but they may be adequate.

Art Croasdale has huried the hammer almost 170 feet, good enough against most competition, but Joe Jurek and Neal Curtin have been consistently inconsistent in the 150-foot area.

The javelin forces are even thinner, with Tom Holcombe the only returnee from last year's strong group of throwers. Holcombe will have to better his 200-foot efforts of a year ago to give the Crimson adequate representation in that event.

In the other field events, Ohiri and Aggrey Awori, both 24 ft., 6 in. broad jumpers, will team with Pardee and Sid Marland to give the Crimson a strangle-hold on that event against virtually any competition. Croasdale will pace the shot-put forces, with Ray Frieden and Bob Harrington in supporting roles.

Pardee, who won the indoor IC4A high jump with a Harvard record 6 ft., 9 in., will have to wait for his first varsity spring appearance to shatter the outdoor mark of 6 ft., 4 1/2 in. Senior Jack Spitzberg is the Crimson's next best, and the Pardee-Spitzberg duo gives Harvard a one-two punch no other Eastern school can match.

Weak in Pole Vault

Jay Mahaney and Don Forte are two consistent 13 ft., 6 in. vaulters, but vaulters need at least a 14-foot effort to score in the fiber glass era.

In the running events, Awori, Spitzberg, and sophomore Tony Lynch pose an awesome 120-yard high hurdle threesome. Lynch and Spitzberg will compete in the 440-yard hurdles also, with the sophomore ace rating a good shot at the Harvard record time of 53.1 seconds.

Awori and Ohiri will lead the sprint contingent, just as they did so adequately during the winter campaign. John Parker, Joe Smith, and Dick Briggs will supplement the African pair at 220 yards.

The 440-yard run will be a weak event for the Crimson, with junior Keith Chiappa and Parker the two runners most likely to score. Chiappa had a magnificent winter as a 600-yard runner, but the shorted distance may prove a little fast for his Bermuda blood.

Chiappa, team captain Ed Meehan, and John Ogden form a formidable half-mile trio, all potential 1:51 runners. Meehan, Ogden, and sophomore Walt Hewlett will pace the mile corps, with Meehan a good bet to break Mark Mullin's Harvard record time of 4:06.4.

With glaring weaknesses only in the hammer and pole vault McCurdy's troops look hard to beat. Just how hard, both coach and team will find out April 11 when the Crimson faces a formidable Army squad at West Peint.