Thinclads to Run Without McCurdy's Guidance

The Harvard indoor track team opens its season today against Boston University with a squad that will suffer from coaching as well as graduate depletion.

Not only have hurdler Dewey Hickman and record-holding middle-distance men John Quirk and Bob Clayton departed from the ranks, but Bill McCurdy will take a sabbatical beginning in January and lasting through spring semester.

Edgar Stowell, associate track coach, and Bob Hunt, assistant track coach, will grab the reins during McCurdy's first vacation in 22 years of varsity coaching.

"When I leave I won't have to worry about my new coaches," McCurdy said yesterday. "I have coached them for so long that they are bound to have learned something."

Despite the letterman losses, McCurdy will have an excellent crop of field men. First in mind is triple-threat jumper Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, a junior from the Bahamas who can triple, long, and high jump. Vanderpool-Wallace leaped to a Harvard record of 49 ft. 2 1/2 in. in the triple jump at an Oxford-Cambridge meet last year.

'Quality and Brilliance'

"Vanderpool-Wallace offers us quality with brilliance and depth. He's a man to watch," McCurdy said yesterday.

Ahmed Kayali of Kenya joins Vanderpool-Wallace in the Crimson pits, with a triple jump of 48 ft. plus, and a strong long jump as well.

Sophomore Mel Embree, a 6 ft. 9 in. high jumper, will be leading the high jumping corps for the '73 season. A supporting cast of Frank Kulash, Kevin Barnes and Scott Hundall, in addition to quitous Vanderpool-Wallace, adds depths to one of the Crimson's thinclads' strongest units.

Harvard's pole vault contingent will again be strong with tri-captain Jim Kleiger, a 16 ft. 6 in. vaulter, returning from last year's 6-0 winter track squad. Kleiger's competition will come from teammates Blayne Heckel, Donald Berg and Steve Haynes, all 15 ft. plus vaulters.

Tri-captain Jay Hughes, Steve Niemi and football tackle Dan Jiggets comprise the core of this season's 35-pound weight men. Hughes' 60 ft. 2 3/4 in. throw topped all other Crimson tosses for the '72 season.

McCurdy plans to use Hughes and sophomore Kevin McCafferty in the lineup for shotput. "This combination ought to give us a pretty good one-two punch against any of our opponents," he said.

McCurdy said yesterday that he believes the winter track team will be balanced between track and field, but the stronger will probably be the fieldmen.

"Nobody will be able to walk into our pits thinking they can just dust us right off," he said. "Overall, the picture is one that makes me wish I had my six months off some other time."

To absorb the impact of the graduated runners, McCurdy will press many distance men into double service. "We were really decimated in both the 1000-yd. and the hurdles," he said. "Damn it, I wish those graduates hadn't been so smart, so they could come back and help us this year," he added.

Sam Butler, a strong intermediate hurdler, will dominate the hurdle chores, with Trip Anderson, John Maggio, and freshman Craig Butler supporting him.

Jim Springate, Bill Ocherman, Wayne Curtis and Joel Paters will fill the gaps in the 1000, but a lot of rebuilding will have to be done, McCurdy said. Fortunately, the Crimson has a 600-yd. record-holder in tri-captain Nick Leone, returning to the squad.

McCurdy will be hard pressed to replace Jim Quirk's 4:07 mile, but cross country men Jim Keefe, Jeff Brokaw, freshman Jeff Campbell and workhorse Ric Rojas will shoot for the low four-minute marker.

Rojas, the Crimson's top cross country man, will also join Karl Tsigdinos and Bill Muller in the two-mile heat.

McCurdy said he plans to experiment with inexperienced runners in today's home meet against Boston University. "Our meets with B.U. have always been casual, and anyway they don't have enough talent to make a serious challenge," he said.

But McCurdy said he expects Saturday's home match against Army to be the true test of Harvard's track and field strength.

As far as the rest of the schedule, Harvard can look for tough races against Cornell and perennial Ivy powerhouse Penn. The Crimson thinclads are also gearing up for the traditional winter track champoinship, the Heptagonals, at Ithaca on February 23.