Spirit Will Assist Decimated Cinder Squad Through 1940 Season--Mikkola

Last spring the Crimson track men broke all records for scoring and Coach Jaakko Mikkola looked forward to a brilliant season in 1940. Old Man Probation made several inroads on the cinder aggregation, and several other disappointments left the coach in a position where the "cold facts of the winter season" were anything but brilliant.

Jaakko had an on-paper team at the end of last spring that promised a performance superior to any in recent years; now he will commit himself no further than to assert that "The team will come through as long as the spirit keeps up."

Jaakko has implicit faith that "his boys" will stand up and produce in the face of riddled hopes. Aside from those men who have had to drop the sport because of scholastic difficulties, sickness, injuries, and crowded programs have been responsible for the decimation of the ranks.

Only Don Donahue and Mason Fernald remain to run the hurdles. Fernald has been kept from practice by a knee injury until recently. Roger Schafer, who turned in a consistently superior low hurdle performance last year, will not run this season.

Distance Men Lost

Gene Clark, top notch miler of last year, will not be able to run until the outdoor season; another miler, Charles Olefather, has transferred to Nebraska University. Rolla Clark, a half miler, will be out of school this year due to a severe illness.

George Downing, Nat Mendell, and Howard Hurd will carry on in the field events; Bill Shallow and Tom White heaved a mean weight last year, but White is not expected to compete for a while. Gil Aertsen won't do any high jumping until the robin comes around, but Bob Partlow will be reaching for the cage ceiling all winter.

Season Will Be Tough

Jaakko always calls for improvement, no matter how the team looks at the season's start. The squad will be keeping fast company on the boards. Dartmouth and Cornell are especially strong, and Yale, inspired by an entirely new coaching staff, will be full of surprises. But Jaakko gives assurance that he and Bill Neufeld are working up a couple of surprises, too. Not the least of these will be the development of a well-rounded, high scoring squad out of the question mark that will vie with the Veterans of Foreign Wars on January 13.

Albert O. Smith II '40, track manager, opened the Sophomore competition Friday. Inaugurating a new lenient policy, only two hours of work will be expected during exams, and the winner will be responsible for the LC.4A Meet, held for the first time since 1926 in Cambridge, this spring. The competition will close with the Quadrangular Meet, February 27.