Trackmen Win Heps in a Runaway

ITHACA. N.Y. Feb. 27--The phenomenal Crimson track team buried co-favored Navy with a record-shattering point explosion here tonight to give Harvard its second consecutive indoor Heptagonal title.

A capacity crowd of 4500 fans jammed Cornell's Barton Hall and watched awestruck as the powerful Crimson invaders scored solidly in every event except the pole vault and finished with 65 points, six more than Yale's record total in 1961. Navy managed 35 points to gain second place. Army, with 30, was third.

It was an inspired team effort by the spirited Harvard runners. The spectators' applause for the hometown Cornell performers paled time and again before the cheers that rose from the Crimson bench each time a Harvardman was on the boards.

A typical demonstration of the team's enthusiasm came in the 600, when a dozen red-shirted bodies embraced willowy sophomore Joe Sam Robinson as he fell across the finish line after a stirring second-place performance.

Four Crimson runners scored first places, and, predictably, one of the four was Aggrey Awori, a triple winner here in 1963. A 23 ft., 4 1/2 in. leap gave Awori the broad jump title for the third straight year, a Heptagonal record.

Awori registered another record in his trail head of the 60-yard high hurdles. He set a new mark of 0:07.3, but teammate Tony Lynch equalled that clocking in the finals, coming from behind to edge navy's Courtland Gray and Awori for first place.

Aggrey notched a second in the 60-yard dash, and again it was a teammate who cost him a higher position. Unheralded sophomore Wayne Andersen sent the fans thumbing through their programs with his unexpected win. His time, 0:06.2, was the best by a Harvard sprinter this season.

The final Crimson win came from cocentric Walt Hewlett. By the time the two-mile rolled around, the Harvard team had first place sewed up, but every man on the bench knew that it would be a miserable ride home unless Walt could atone for his terrible showing here last year.

He did. After bringing up the rear on the first trip around the 220-yard Barton Hall oval, Hewlett moved up fast on the second lap and too over the lead at the quarter-mile mark. He toyed with Navy's Greg Williams for the next mile and won going away in 9:25.4.

Robinson's second place was the most spectacular of the other Crimson performances. Starting in the outside lane from an unstaggered start, Sam was forced to bide his time until the gun lap. Then he shifted into passing gear and caught everyone but Army's Henry Farrell, who led all the way and finished in 1:12.0.

Smith Second

Miller Jim Smith was another Crimson sophomore who shocked the experts. The two-headed Tennessean stayed back during the first seven laps while Yale's Rick Wilmer and favored Jim Warner of Army battled for the lead. Smith came out of nowhere in the stretch to catch Warner, and he was breathing hard down Wilmer's neck when the Eli runner was saved by the tape. The time was 4:20.6.

The mile-relay team got the same strong sniff of victory. Michael Hauck's speedy third leg put Tony Lynch only a stride behind Cornell's anchorman at the beginning of the last quarter. Lynch was still there at the finish, as the Crimson claimed second place and a large share of the credit for Cornell's meet record clocking, 3:20.7.

High Jump

A less exhilirating second place belonged to Chris Pardee in the high jump. The pre-meet favorite, Pardee failed for the first time this season to clear 6 ft., 8 in. and had to settle for the runner-up position behind Yale's Kim Hill. Pardee was jumping in borrowed footwear, as his own shoes had been misplaced on route to Cornell.

Captain Art Cronsdale garnered seven big points for the Crimson with a second place in the weight throw behind Cornell's Tom Gage and a solid third place in the shot. Cronsdale's best put measured 54 ft., 9 1/2 in., not far short of Eli Chuck Mercein's winning toss of 55 ft., 4 1/2 in.