Relay Team Fifth in Quantico Meet; Harpel Finishes Fourth in Hammer

Times were slow and points scarce, but the varsity track team got its spring training in the Quantico quagmire in Virginia Friday and Saturday.

More than 1100 of the finest track men in the nation competed in the second annual Marine Corps School Relays, held in a pouring rain that turned the track into a virtual lake.

Weightman Pete Harpel turned in the finest performance for the Crimson, placing fourth among a star-studded 16-pound hammer field. American record-holder Harold Connolly unleashed a toss of 201 feet, 1 inch to lead a field which included former record-holder Bob Backus and Stew Thompson, ex-Yale star.

An indication of the quality of the entrants in this meet was the distance medley relay, in which the varsity finished fifth. Winner Villanova ran Charlie Jenkins, Warner Heitman, Alex Breckenridge, and Ron Delany, four of the finest runners in the country during the past indoor season.

Bill Morris led off the quarter-mile leg for the varsity. Ken Wilson ran the three-quarter mile leg and Dick Norris the half-mile. Miler Pete Reider anchored the team.

By way of rectifying an error in the pre-meet account, there is a well-organized and active Friends of Harvard Track, which had offered to pay the team's entire expenses for this trip. However, the team decided that if each team member were to pay half his own expenses, this would eliminate those who aspired to a free southern vacation.