Harvard Track Team Destroys Army, 99-55; McCulloh Qualifies for '76 Olympic Trials

Harvard's undefeated track team, paced by Olympic trials qualifier John McCulloh, left the baldies from West Point a little shell-shocked Saturday after a 99-55 blitzkrieg at Soldiers Field Stadium.

After being humbled by the Cadets and four other teams at the Heptagonal Championships last week, the Crimson cindermen were ready for a blood-letting.

Saturday's victory, the Crimson's eighteenth straight dual meet win, had many heroes; Ed Ajootian, Mel Embree and Ahmed Kayali all set new stadium records in their events. But the best performance was turned in by high jumper John "Super Foot" McCulloh, and he didn't even win.

McCulloh, who for three years has been playing the role of Jim Rice to Mel Embree's Fred Lynn, finally got a little of the spotlight Saturday. Although he placed second to Embree in the high jump, McCulloh's leap of 7 ft. 2 1/8 in, entitles him to join Embree at the Olympic high jump trials this summer.

Both jumpers broke Embree's old stadium record of 6 ft. 10 1/4 in. set against Dartmouth two years ago.

Hammer Head

Hammer-thrower Ed Ajootian and triple-jumper Ahmed Kayali also broke long-standing records.

Ajootian threw the hammer 202 ft. 8 in, to break an 11-year-old mark set by John Fiore of Boston College by almost eight feet.

"There wasn't much psyche involved in my throw Saturday," Ajootian said yesterday. "I threw 208 ft. 2 in. last week at the Heps."

Ajootian, who was second at the national NCAAs during the indoor season in the 35 lb. weight throw, said that he has the best throw in the East right now. "Things change every week though," he added.

Kayali, who was performing in his last dual meet for Harvard, triple-jumped 48 ft. 10 in. to better by almost three inches the old record set by Harvard's Chris Ohiri in 1963.

There were other heroes in the meet. Sprinter Todd Hooks set the tone of the meet with three upset victories over Army star Jesse Owens, including a come-from-behind anchor leg in the 440 yard relay, the first running event of the day.

"I was psyched today," Hooks said Saturday. Owens knocked me out of the finals last week at the Heps. This week I turned things around."

Fans' Favorite

Because of his unexpected challenge to Embree, McCulloh seemed to be the fans' favorite. McCulloh cleared 7 ft. 2 in. before Embree did and the crowd seemed to sense an upset in the making.

Embree came back, however, to clear 7 ft. 2 in. on his final jump at that height. He then tied his University mark of 7 ft. 3 in. McCulloh missed three times at 7 ft. 3 in. to give Embree the victory.

McCulloh nearly cleared the height on his final attempt. When the bar quivered and then slid off, the crowd gave the disappointed McCulloh a spontaneous minute long ovation.