Harvard Thinclads Burn Brown, 80-38

Less than two weeks ago, indoor track coach Bill McCurdy would say nothing optimistic about his team's chances this year. But the Thinclads buried any remaining pessimism last night as they clobbered Brown 80-38 at Briggs Cage for their third straight win.

"We're hot!" McCurdy exclaimed last night. "We're so hot we think we have a fire here." Actually, the fire may have been in some faulty electrical wiring in the coaches' office, but McCurdy's team was certainly smoking against the Bruins.

Strongman Dan Jiggetts helped to spark the victory with a pair of decisive first place finishes in the weight events. The 260-pound senior opened the meet with a 60-ft.-2 3/4 in. toss in the 35 lb. weight throw. Moments later, he heaved the shot put 51 ft..

Ed Ajootian nabbed second for the Crimson in the weight throw with a 58 ft.-6 in. heave and Kevin McCafferty took second in the shot at 49 ft.-9in.

Harvard kept on burning in the jumping events, taking 10 of 12 possible places. Hunt Block and Mel Embree paced the leapers with a first and a third place finish each.

Geoff Stiles skied to victory in the pole vault with a 14 ft.-even effort. Steven Hanes placed second at 14 ft.-even, and Block came in third at 12 ft.-even.

Block hurdled 21 ft. 11in. to nail down first in the long jump, and teammate Mike Plater took second at 21 ft.-7 in.

Embree back-flopped over the bar at 6 ft.-8 in. to win the high jump, while Dan Sullivan cleared 6 ft.-6 in for second and John McCulloh finished third at 6 ft.-2 in.

Embree picked up a third in the triple jump, leaping 44 ft.-6 3/4 in. Hasa Kayali bounded 45 ft.-11 1/2 in. for second place in the event, as Brown's Colm Cronin set a new Briggs Cage record at 48 ft.-5 in. for the win.

The Bruins tried to quell the blazing Crimson attack in the running events, but Harvard's trackmen held their own. Despite a Brown sweep in the mile run and 1-2 Bruin finishes in the 40-yd. dash and the two-mile, Harvard managed to out-score Brown 34-30 in the eight running events.

Joel Peters turned in a 1:14.9 clocking for the victory in the 600-yd. run, while Gray Schmidt finished third in 1:16.8.

High Hurdle

Todd Hooks flew over the 40 yd. high hurdle track in 5.3 seconds, just nipping second-place finisher Sam Butler for the win. Hooks later sprinted to third place in the 40 yd. dash.

Bill Okerman and Wayne Curtis placed 1-2 for the Crimson in the 1000-yd. run, turning in 1:18.5 and 2:19.0 times. Pete Fitzsimmons finished a close third in the two-mile run.

The trackmen ended the meet in a blaze of glory by winning both the mile and the two-mile relays.