Powerful Track Team Starts Season

The varsity track team turned in some impressive early-season performances in an intra-squad meet in Briggs Cage Saturday. But a few loose screws turned up in the Crimson track juggernaut at the same time.

In a few events, notably the high jump, the hurdles, and the 35-pound weight, the team looked excellent.

Captain Art Croasdale took the weight with a 56 ft. 8 in. throw, and John Bakkensen, who just took up the event this year, was right behind him at 55 ft. 5 in. It was the first time Bakkensen had cracked the 55-foot mark, and it left coach Bill McCurdy pretty certain that he has the East's best one-two punch in the event. Croasdale also took the shotput at 53 ft., 6 1/4 in.

Aggrey Awori nipped Tony Lynch by a half step to win the 40-yard hurdles in a creditable 5.3 seconds, 0.2 off Awori's Harvard record. A brigade of sophomores finished a step or two behind.

Pardee Floats

University record-holder Chris Pardee floated over 6 ft. 6 in. the high jump. The depth behind Pardee was extraordinary; Charlie Njoku and Belford Lawson both cleared 6 ft., 2 in. Njoku, who jumps who an unusual, almost head-first style, barely missed three times at 6 ft., 4 in., kicking the bar off with his trailing foot each time.

The mile produced the best race of the day as Jim Smith made up a 20-yard deficit and caught Dave Allen just as the last lap began. They ran head-to-head for 100 yards before Allen pulled away to win by three seconds in 4:23.0.

Hewlett sat out the race with a foot injury.

Chiappa is being counted on as a top performer in the 600 and the 1000. In his absence, times were unremarkable. Sophomore Sam Robinson, who was injured for most of the fall, won the shorter race in a turtle-like 1:16.9, almost two seconds slower than Jeff Huvelle's winning time in the freshman race.

Smith whipped through the 1000 in 2:21.4, with Charles Redman second and Bruce Miller third.

Awori added the 40-yard dash and the broad jump to his hurdles win, but Harvard looked thin in both events. No one challenged the Ugandan Olympic star as he won the dash in a slow 5.0. In the broad jump, normally a strong event for Harvard, Awori was the only man to break 22 feet. His 22 ft., 1/4 in. leap beat out sophomore Harvey Thomas by four inches. Pardee, who was near the 23-foot mark last season, was far off with his steps and could do no better than 16 ft., 10 in.

In the only other events contested, Ken Winters took the pole vault at 12 feet and a Wayne Anderson-Awori-Dick Briggs-John Parker team ran the fastest mile relay, 3:36.