Harvard Thinclads Beat Army, 84-70

The Harvard track team, on the strengths of seven wins in the field, took its third meet of the season Saturday as it held off an Army rally in the running events to defeat the Cadets 84-70, at the Stadium.

Jim Kleiger highlighted the Crimson surge in the field as he set a New England and Harvard record in the pole vault with an outstanding 16 ft. 8 in. effort.

It was a case of Harvard building a large lead in the field and then picking up enough points on the track to hold off Army, as the Crimson, subpar due to injuries to hurdler Dewey Hickman, quarter-miler Nick Leone and half-miler and co-captain Bob Clayton, could manage just three firsts in the running events.

Winning Ways

But the Crimson bulge in the field proved to be just enough. Harvard dominated the weight events as Jay Hughes swept the hammer and the shot, Vincent Vanderpoole-Wallace, despite a slight leg injury, took a first in the long jump, and Mel Embree continued his winning ways in the high jump.

Adrian Tew set a new Stadium record in the javelin with an excellent toss of 266 ft. 7 in., while Kleiger upped his personal best pole vault two more inches. The jump broke the old record of 16 ft. 4 1/2 in. set by Steve Schoonever in 1968 against Yale. It was Kleiger's first significant effort of the spring after he had vaulted 16 ft. 6 in. indoors.

A Different Story

On the track it was a different story, however. The cadets dominated the sprints, wining the 100, 220, 440 as well as the 440 relay. But Baylee Reid took crucial seconds in both the 100-yd. and the 220-yd. dashes, breaking up potential Army sweeps and Leone turned in a fine 2nd place 48.9 clocking in the quarter mile to prevent yet another Cadet 1-2.

Comeback Impossible

Those two seconds proved to be Army's undoing, as it made a Cadet comeback virtually impossible. Co-captain John Quirk finally iced the win for the Crimson in the two-mile with Harvard needing only a second place finish to win the meet. Quirk completed a sweep of the mile-two mile double, and Bill Durette gave Harvard a comfortable margin of victory with an unexpected second.