HOUGHTON IS ELECTED 1942 TRACK LEADER

Robert B. Hougton '42 Billerica and Winthrop House, the Varsity's number one miler, will captain the 1941-42 track team. At a farewell meeting of the squad yesterday afternoon in the Dillon Field House, Houghton was elected to succeed Don Donahue '41. Irving P. Delappe '42 of Dorchester was named to follow Louis S. Taylor '41, as manager.

Coach Jeakke Mikkola announced tentative entries in the IC4A meet at New York this week-end. Since participants must finance their own trip, this contest is not part of the formal track program.

To date four members of the Crimson team have expressed their willingness to enter. Doug Pirnie will run the 220-yard dash, John Shattuck will put the shot, Chet d'Autremont has entered the pole vault, and Tom White the hammer throw.

Most Improved Runner

Houghton's election was not too startling to most observers, since he has proven himself the most improved runner on the squad. His victory over Yale's highly acclaimed Mac Main was one of the upsets which led to a Harvard triumph. His 4:29.6 for the race was his best time to date, but estimates show that if he had not had to buck the wind up the back stretch, the clocking would have been about six seconds lower.

Still if anyone had prophesied his appointment three months ago, it would have brought to mind a slim, blond runner whose record had been spotted by a series of illnesses which kept him out of all competition last spring and slowed up his development.

Discouraged by Illness

After running on the two-mile relay team this winter, another attack of sickness discouraged him so that he seriously considered quitting track. By the Dartmouth meet, however, he had so improved through sheer training, that his teammates voted him the Sav Cartoon for the most improved member.

On the approaching weekend's schedule, Doug Pirnie appears to be the Harvard trackman most likely to succeed except for the threat presented by Barney Ewell of Penn State, who won both dashes and the broad jump last year. Last Saturday Pirnie, backed by a stiff breeze, did the furlong in 20.7 seconds. His best unaided time was 21.8 in the Dartmouth fray.