Harvard Thinclads Gain Greater Boston Title, Defeat Rivals Northeastern and Boston College

It really wasn't ever in doubt. With a 31-point padding from the preceding day's field events, Harvard's thinclads could not help but win the Greater Boston Championships.

Nevertheless Northeastern and Boston College presented some formidable opposition to the inevitable.

When all of the diehard fans had finally cleared out of Tufts's indoor athletic barn, the dittoed stat sheets revealed that Harvard had netted 93 points to Northeastern's 82, Boston College's 43, Brandeis's 24, and a few other colleges with a smattering of points.

Bring It All Back Home

A first place by Nick Leone in the 440 yd. dash, a multitude of second and third-place finishes, and a few key fourth places, brought the city title back to Harvard for the second straight year.

Although no other Crimson runner duplicated Leone's feat, Steve Brown placed second to B.C.'s Keith Francis for four points in the 880, Bill Okerman nabbed second in the 1000, also succumbing to Francis, and Joel Peters grabbed four points in a 600 yard runoff.

Harvard had a decisive edge over its Boston neighbors in its incredible depth in almost all the running contests. Although the Northeastern Huskies notched four firsts and five second places, Harvard kept pace with Northeastern by placing more than one runner in scoring position.

Bolstering the Tally

Jim Springate complemented Steve Brown's performance with a fifth place in the 880, Randy Buckley took third to Peters in the 600 and Dave Rowe followed Leone's efforts with a strong fourth place in the quarter.

Also, Mike Horton's fifth finishing in the 50-yard dash, Sam Butler's fourth in a strong field of hurdlers, Ric Rojas's fourth in the two-mile, and Jeff Campbell's fifth in the mile, considerably bolstered Harvard's total point tally.

To end any possible chance for a Crimson loss, Buckley, Brown, Peters, and Leone teamed up for a six-point closing win in the mile relay.

But the decisive blows had been delivered the night before the Tufts excursion in Harvard's Briggs Cage.

In that age-old facility Harvard had some memorable wins including a stellar performance by high jumper Mel Embree--6'10", a new meet record, and an equally sidereal effort by Blayne Heckel in the pole vault. Heckel and teammate Don Berg combined for first and second slots in the vaulting competition.

A New Broom...

Kevin McCafferty, Jay Hughes, and Chris Queen swept the bottom half of the shot put slate gaining third, fourth, and fifth positions.

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Leon Sharpe, and Ahmed Kayali finished one-two-three in the triple jump and Jay Hughes and Steve Niemi placed second and third to Northeastern's big man, Boris Djervassi in the 35-lb. weight throw.

In what could be regarded as somewhat of an upset, Vanderpool-Wallace jumped to second spot behind Dan Mahoney of Boston College in the long jump. Sharpe placed third behind Vanderpool-Wallace.

Harvard's sub varsity also wasted no time in defeating its rivals. The Crimson started off strong with 49 field event points, and later went on to beat its closest opponent, Northeastern, 107 to 44.

A combination of wins in the distance medley and the mile relay, plus wins by Alan Boyer in the 440, Richard Anderson in the 880, and second places by Lou Rice in the 600 and Andy Woodring in the 1000 proved decisive for the Crimson JV.

Harvard's field men, led by Bill Wendell and Kevin Barnes, swept the first three places in both the long and high jump. Steve Hanes also took a first in the pole vault for the Crimson.