Track Varsity Turns In Fine Season; Benjamin, Blodgett, deKiewiet Excel

The varsity track team opened the spring season with the bleakest prospects in years. A dismal winter season, climaxed by a weak fifth-place finish in the indoor Heptagonals and a scoreless performance in the IC4A championship, had removed the Crimson from serious consideration as a power in Eastern track.

Thirty-two men went to Florida over spring vacation for a week of intensive practice sponsored by the Friends of Harvard Track. Still, the varsity's first meet was with Army on April 18, and the Cadets, who were being hailed as the best dual meet team in the East, had whipped the Crimson indoors, 64 1/3 to 44 2/3.

But the varsity came through with a smashing 88-52 triumph over Army, and it was clear that the team had undergone a complete metamorphosis since the indoor season. Dyke Benjamin, badly injured all winter, won the mile in 4:15.6 and then came back to take the two-mile in an amazing 9:08.5, a new University record.

Art Cahn came from nowhere in the stretch of the 880 to catch Bill Hanne of Army, who had whipped him easily indoors. With the javelin all but over, Tom Blodgett won the event with his next-to-last throw, and he took first in he pole vault with a 13-ft. effort on his final attempt.

It was captain Albie Gordon, however, who pulled the most pronounced reversal of form. After a rough winter which saw him grow progressively worse as the season wore on, Gordon snapped his slump with a blazing stretch run that defeated Ron Salter and Dave Gray of Army in the 440.

A week later, the Crimson crushed a weak Princeton team, 99 to 41, in the Stadium. Gordon turned in one of his best competitive efforts, a 48.3 440, but Tiger sophomore Dick Edmunds won by a step, establishing a new meet record. Benjamin's bid for a University mile record fell short, as he was beaten by teammate Jed Fitzgerald in 4:16.2. John Bronstein won the discus with an excellent 158 ft., 33/4 in. toss, and John deKiewiet took the high jump for the second straight week.

On May 2, the Crimson entered a triangular meet in the Stadium with an even chance to defeat a strong and deep Penn team. Cornell was expected to trouble the varsity in a few key events. As it turned out, there was no cause for alarm, as the varsity trounced the Quakers, 861/2 to 581/2, with Cornell scoring a mere 28 points.

Hank Abbot finished second behind Heptagonal champion Carl Shine of Penn, but he broke the University record with a 52 ft., 3 in. heave. Benjamin was a double winner, taking the mile in 4:14.8 and the two-mile in 9:13.0, and Joel Landau won both hurdle races. Sophomore Frank Yoemans emerged as a first-rate dash man, beating Penn's Dave Coffin and Cornell's George Ekstrom with a 10.0 100.

So the scene was set for the Yale meet. In the first running event, the mile, Eli coach Bob Giegengack tried a daring gamble, taking ace 880 man Ed Slowik out of his normal event and pitting him against Benjamin and Jed Fitzgerald.

When Benjamin and Fitzgerald rushed past Yale's Jim Wade with only 150 yards to go, it seemed as though Giegengack's strategy had failed. But Slowik came from far back and won by two yards in 4:15.1.

Gordon ran his best race of the season, 48.1, but he lost in the 440 to Jim Stack of Yale. Art Cahn's fine 1:53.4 effort in the 880 was good only for second behind Bulldog Tom Carroll. Steve Snyder of Yale edged out Yeomans, who ran a 9.8 100. Joel Landau lost the first low hurdle race of his career to Jim Carney of Yale, and he was shuut out in the 220. Only Landau's 14.9 in the high hurdles and Benjamin's 9:12.0 in the two-mile were good enough for firsts in the running events.

The field events crew fared slightly better. DeKiewiet won again in the high jump, Jim Doty triumphed in the hammer, and Carl Pescosolido took the javelin. Blodgett got over 13 ft., 4 in. to win the pole vault. Yale's final margin was a decisive 82-58.

In special trials held three days after the Yale meet to determine qualifiers for the June trip to England, DeKiewiet established a new University high jump record by clearing 6 ft., 3 3/4 in. Eleven other Crimson performers, along with 15 Yale men, will make the trip.

Dartmouth fell the next day, 81 2/3 to 58 1/3, in the Stadium, as coach Bill McCurdy juggled his lineup to prevent a slaughter. Benjamin ran a 4:12.1 mile for the day's best performance. Finally the Crimson took third in the Heptagonals, with Benjamin scoring ten of the team's 40 points and deKiewiet continuing undefeated in the high jump.

Gordon was surely one of the best captains in recent history; his running skill and his leadership held the team together. Benjamin's gritty victory in the Heps typified his tremendous determination that gave him one University record and may yet give him another. These two, along with 11 other seniors, will be missed next year.

The Freshmen, especially miler Mark Mullin, will contribute strongly to next year's team. But the 1960 edition will be a truly amazing squad if it eclipses the accomplishments of what McCurdy has called "the best track team I've ever coached."