Milers Baker and Shaw Threaten To Surpass Four-Minute Barrier

When Roger Bannister ran the world's sub-four minute mile in May 1954--hailed by London newspapers as the greatest achievement in athletics history"--Harvard's mile record stood at a sluggish 4:16.5, set by A. C. Northrup '38 in his senior year.

Things have changed in 14 years. When Bannister, a 25-year-old English medical student, crossed the finish line at Oxford's Iffley Road track after his history-making 3:59.4 run and collapsed from exhaustion, he was thought to have done the impossible. Today, Jim Ryun breezes through sub-3:55 miles with seemingly no effort.

A no less dramatic change, if on a lesser basis, has been wrought at Harvard. This year, for the first time in its history. Harvard has a handful of long distance runners who rank among the best in the country. Harvard runners have recorded times in the mile and two-mile that are easily among the 10 fastest collegiate performances this year. A Harvard relay team has to its credit the season's fastest two-mile relay time in the nation on an 11-lap track.

The focus of most of the attention Harvard's track team is finally receiving has been centered on senior Jim Baker and sophomore Roy Shaw, who have taken turns this season deflating Harvard's indoor record in the mile. Shaw, in perhaps the season's most touted performance, ran a brilliant 4:02.8 mile at Dartmouth a week ago, without the aid of a pacer, to break his own University record of 4:03.4.

The attention Baker and Shaw have been getting has obscured equally fine performances by equally deserving members of the team. Doug Hardin's 8:44.2 two-mile run at Brown, for example, places him among the country's top five two-milers. And sophomore Keith Colburn may surprise his miler teammates-and-run the lot into the ground once he shakes his persistent injuries.

Harvard's two-mile relay team, which threatened the old indoor world record before Villanova set a new one on a 220 (eight laps to the mile) track, will be ranked either first or second in the NCAA championships in March. Trey Burns and Dave McKelvey are certainly as integral a part of that team as either of their more publicized teammates.

So it is perhaps unfair that Baker and Shaw dominated the limelight--unfair but understandable. No matter how fast someone runs the two-mile or the two-mile relay, or how far someone puts the shot or how high someone pole vaults, the four-minute miler will be the hero of track and field. Even though dozens of runners have broken four minutes since Bannister and the world record is now an impossible 3:51.1, four minutes remains the magic mark, the measure of the miler's mettle. And everyone seems to think that one of these days either Baker or Shaw or both of them will hit that mark.

Both of them agree that they are in good enough physical condition to break four miles. Had Baker felt well enough to run with Shaw at Dart-mouth and force the pace, one of them could well have done it. As it was there was no one to push the sophomore once he took the lead.

Pacing will be perhaps the most vital factor in any race aimed at a sub-four time. Coach Bill MeCurdy has said that neither Baker nor Shaw "is ready to go out and do it alone. Together they could do it any time. They complement one another."

Which of them would do it is a matter of guesswork. Baker is certainly a steadier, more experienced runner than his younger teammate. "He has a good emotional temperament," says McCurdy, "and can't be psyched out in a race." And in the five mile races Baker and Shaw have run together this season, Baker has won all but one.

Shaw admits that he runs erratically. But his times speak for themselves. He has run Harvard's two fastest miles this year. He has perhaps more native speed than Baker and is an explosive runner. The first two races he lost to Baker--against Army and B.U.--were early in the season, and Baker is quick to point out that his teammate has progressed more than himself strength-wise since the beginning of the season.

So pick whom you will for Harvard's first four-minute miler. Either Baker or Shaw could hit the mark any day. Maybe they won't do it indoors, and maybe they won't do it at all this season. It would hardly be the end of things if they didn't. Says McCurdy: "They're two proud, competitive athletes. Sure they'd like to break four, but it's certainly not the most important thing in the world." It shouldn't be.