Stiles Sets New Vault Mark; Tracksters Topple B.C., 90-46

Geoff Stiles shattered the Harvard pole vault record, the two-mile relay team defeated a world-class squad from the Greater Boston Track Club, and the tracksters crushed Boston College, 90-46, in a meet held Saturday at the ITT.

Indoor track captain Stiles vaulted 16 ft., 9 1/4 in., eclipsing the old mark of 16 ft., 6 in. set by Jim Klieger in 1973.

"I watched the videotape of my workouts this week and I figured out what I was doing wrong. I didn't really expect this, but I guess I just put everything together," a jubilant and exhausted Stiles said following the event.

Stiles barely missed three attempts with the bar at 17 ft., 1/2 in. "Seventeen feet looks like it's there, "Stiles said. "It's just a matter of a bit more practice."

The two-mile relay team, consisting of Adam Dixon, Thad McNulty, John Chafee and John Murphy, turned in a stunning performance in toppling a Greater Boston Track Club squad which included Mark Belger, America's premier half-miler, and Greg Meyer who has clocked a 3:58 mile.

The triumph was all the more remarkable considering that McNulty and Chafee bumbled their baton exchange, costing the Crimson at least two or three seconds.

Dixon ran a blazing 1:51.9 split to stake the crew to a comfortable lead which McNulty maintained until the mix-up. Chafee stayed close in the crucial third leg against Belger, and anchorman Murphy streaked by Fred Doyle to clinch the victory in 7:35.7.

"I could've gone faster, but I sat on him to see how much he had left. I think we're eventually going to run faster than we did today," Murphy said after the race. The same crew came back two and a half hours later to beat Boston College by more than nine seconds.

"The relay team used typical Harvard action in solving the problem. They worked really hard together all week--they used committee action and got a committee result," coach Bill McCurdy said afterward.

The B.C. squad proved no match for the trackmen as Harvard swept the first three spots in the mile, the triple jump and the long jump.

Ed Sheehan, Peter Fitzsimmons and Mark Meyer placed 1-2-3 in the mile even though it is not their regular event. McCurdy switched quarter-miler Allan Harrington and 600-yd. man Dave Frim and each won his maiden venture, Harrington with a solid 1:15.1 in the 600 and Frim with a time of 50.3 for the 440.

"There was no good reason to switch Frim and Harrington. I just did it. Sometimes the best decisions are the ones made for no reason at all," McCurdy said.

Sola Mahoney had a good day, taking first in the long jump and finishing a close second behind teammate Charles King in the triple jump. Eagle Ignatius MacLellan snapped the Crimson's undefeated streak in the high jump, however, soaring to 6 ft., 10 in. in edging out Harvard's Michael Young.

"It was an unusual day--things went almost as planned," McCurdy said.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Mile: 1--Sheehan (H) 4:12.5; 2--Fitzsimmons (H) 4:12.1; 3--Meyer (H) 4:16.6.

Hurdles: 1--Greenwood (BC) 8.0; 2--Vance (H) 8.1; 3--Johnson (H) 8.1.

440-yd. Run: 1--Frim (H) 50.3; 2--Nelson (BC) 50.4; 3--Nicodemus (H) 51.7.

600-yd. Run: 1--Harrington (H) 1:15.1; 2--Murphy (BC) 1:15.5; 3--Sims (H) 1:16.o.

Weight: 1--Lenz (H) 56 ft. 6 in.; 2--Ball (H) 55 ft. 7 in.; 3--Polozzi (BC) 45 ft. 8 1/4 in.

60-yd. Dash: 1--Curry (BC) 6.4; 2--Salvo (H) 6.5; 3--Chapus (H) 6.6.

880-yd. Run: 1--Horton (BC) 1:56.7; 2--Scidmore (H) 1:57.9; 3--Clark(BC) 1:59.1.

1000-yd. Run: 1--Finucane (BC) 2:14.2; 2--Sheehan (H) 2:16.1; 3--Canvan (BC) 2:17.7.

Shot Pul: 1--Pallozzi (BC) 50 ft. 6 in.; 2--Quantock (H) 49 ft. 3 1/2 in.; 3--Tron (H) 47 ft. 11 in.

Pole Vault: 1--Stiles (H) 16 ft. 9 1/4 in. (New University record); 2--Bailery (H) 11 ft. 6 in.; 3--Burke (BC) 9 ft. 6 in.

2-Mile Run: 1--Lancaster (BC) 9:21.9; 2--McRiskey (H) 9:30.0; 3--Johnson (H) 9:34.3.

Triple Jump: 1--King (H) 22 ft. 11 in.; 2--Mahoney (H) 44 ft. 10 3/4 in.; 3--Miller (H) 41 ft. 8 1/2 in.

High Jump: 1--MacLellan (BC) 6 ft. 10 in.; 2--Young (H) 6 ft. 8 in.; 3--Lanney (BC) 6 ft. 8 in.

Long Jump: 1--Mahoney (H) 22 ft. 7 1/2 in.; 2--Jakenfelds (H) 21 ft. 5 in.; 3--Vance (H) 21 ft. 1 1/2 in.

Mile Relay: 1--Harvard 3:25.6; 2--BC 3:32.0.

Two-Mile Relay: 1--Harvard 7:46.5; 2--BC 7:55.7.