Track Team Will Blast Green Today

Dartmouth's track fortunes have changed since the Indians scored just 21 points against Harvard last year. The Indians, having picked up a good sophomore hurdler and a fair pole vaulter, may well come within 100 points of the Crimson varsity in today's meet at Dartmouth.

The memory of last year's 133-21 shellacking is probably still green, like everything else in the New England woods. But it's going to take more than thoughts of revenge to bring Dartmouth close to Harvard today.

What the meet might possibly produce is a Harvard record in the 440-yard hurdles. Tony Lynch, the Crimson's captain, ripped off an incredible 51.3 in Saturday's Princeton meet, just 0.2 seconds off the personal record he set last year in the NCAA semifinals at Berkeley, Cal.

Lynch's time was the best in the country so far this year, and he accomplished it while running away from his opposition; sophomore Frank Haggerty was more than three seconds behind in second place. Later, Lynch whipped over the hurdles in 14.3 seconds, another excellent early-season time.

Everyone had an unusually fast day over the Princeton track, but it's possible that Lynch could come through with a repeat performance, or even better one of his times today. The reason is a Dartmouth sophomore named Gordon Rule, who beat him in the indoor dual meet at Hanover this winter. Rule should press the Crimson captain over the high hurdles, though there aren't many runners anywhere capable of keeping up with Lynch at a quarter of a mile. Rule, however, will be the toughest competition Lynch faces until he comes up against B.U.'s Dave Hemery in the Greater Boston Colleges meet Wednesday.

Dartmouth's other sophomore prodigy is a pole vaulter named Harris Wagenseil, who raised the Green record to 14 ft., 6 1\4 in. this winter. Wagenseil is erratic, through: the Crimson's Steve Schoonover beat him at the indoor Heps, and Schoonover or Dave Bell might do so again today.

The Green will also be well represented in the javelin, with several performers over the 190 ft. mark. But after those three events, Dartmouth's chances of success look dim against a Crimson line-up that strengthens every week.

Walt Hewlett, the distance-running star who missed the Princeton meet after running in the Boston Marathon earlier in the week, should be back in action today. Walt has been training long hours on Soldier's Field and might improve the 9:16 two-mile which he turned in against Brown two weeks ago. In his absence, Dave Allen won the event at Princeton in 9:27.4.

Wilson Good News

The best news all spring for Coach Bill McCurdy has been the development of sophomore weight man Ron Wilson, who has won six events in two meets so far. Last winter Wilson began as a mediocre weight thrower, but by the end of the season his tosses were eminently respectable.

It looks like he's going to develop the same way during the Spring. Already he has tossed the discuss 160 ft. 9 in., more than ten feet further than his best effort last year, and he has improved by more than 12 feet in the hammer.

Surprisingly--for a squad whose mile relay team broke 3:18 last week--the Crimson has been displaying weakness in the middle distances this spring. Jim Baker, who has beaten Princeton's Al Andreini several times indoors, lost to him last week, and sophomore Trey Burns, who ran sensationally during the winter has dropped out of sight for two weeks in the half mile. But the weakness is probably temporary: Baker's loss seems to have been caused by a good race by Andreini--not a bad race by Baker--and junior Jim Smith has looked sharp in the half-mile.

In any case, half the team could come down with St. Vitus' Dance and the Crimson would still be favored over Dartmouth. But in the next year few weeks, the squad will be meeting far stiffer competition. The GBC meet includes not only Hemery (second in the NCAA high hurdles indoors and second to Tom Farrell in the indoor BAA 600), but also Boston College's 200-foot hammer thrower, John Flore and Northeastern distance runner Dave Dunsky.

Next Saturday the Crimson faces Yale; in two weeks come the Heptagonals, and then a rugged dual meet with an Army squad that lost the indoor Heps title to Harvard by just one point and has picked up considerable strength with the move outdoors.