Track Team Barely Cops G.B.I.; Ogden Stars in Win Over B.C.

The Harvard track team was almost too complacent at the Greater Boston Intercollegiate track championships yesterday, but a fantastic performance by sophomore John Ogden helped the Crimson squeak out a three point victory over Boston College, 81 to 78.

Harvard had entered today's events at Brandeis with a 45-23 bulge over the Eagles, and their lead had seemed so secure that coach Bill McCurdy entered only a fraction of his team, resting many of his stars for this Saturday's Heptagonal meet at Princeton.

B.C. took quick advantage of Harvard's complacency, and with two events, the two mile and the relay, to go, trailed the Crimson by only 13 points. The Eagles threatened to sweep the first three places in the two mile (since no Crimson distance star was entered), and was a cinch to win the mile relay this would have given B.C. the victory by at least three points.

But McCurdy pressed a tired Eddie Meehan into service in the two mile, and Meehan stumbled to a meet-clinching third place. Then Ogden ran an inspired :49.0 lap on the mile relay to lead the team to second place, and Harvard had won by three points.

But Ogden's real heroics had come earlier, in the 330 yard run. The field was very fast, and a bunched pack jumped out of a :53.0 first lap. Meehan, near the front, tired quickly, but Ogden, who was in sixth place at the quarter, finished with an incredible sprint to place second in 1:51.1, an amazing four seconds under the sophomore's previous best.

Even more, Ogden's time bettered the University record for the half-time, set five years ago by Fred Howard. The time will not be submitted; however, since Ogden did not win the race. Ogden's performance gives yet another boost to the Crimson's Heptagonal title hopes, since captain Eddie Hamlin will be unable to run.

A second encouraging factor in today's meet was Harvard's sweep of the discus. Sophomore John Bakkensen captured first place with a toss of 161 ft.; Loren Clayman and Bill Pfeiffer followed Bakkensen in second and third respectively.

The only other Crimson points in today's events came with a victory by Aggrey Awori in the 330 yd. intermediate hurdles, a third-place finish by John Parker in the 220 yd. dash, and Parker's fifth place in the 100 yd. dash. Awori did not compete in either sprint or in the high hurdles.

With the return of high jumper Jack Spitzberg after a long absence, the Crimson will go to Princeton Saturday with an unusually healthy squad. Captain Hamlin is the only man who will miss the meet, but Ogden's sudden emergence in the half-mile will give Harvard yet another threat in the distance.