Army Upsets Track Team, 76-73; Mile Relay Victory Decides Meet

In a Saturday afternoon of shining performances, the Army track team had just a little more luster at the finish, breaking meet records in the last two events to shade the Crimson varsity runners 76-73 at West Point.

The close defeat, a disappointing inaugural to the 1964 outdoor season, was somewhat of an upset for coach Bill McCurdy's troops, who had walloped Army's indoor trackmen 75-34 in December.

It was Cadet captain Bill Straub, needing a victory to keep Army's hopes alive, who turned the trick in Saturday's next-to-last event, the two-mile run, Straub trailed Harvard's Walt Hewlett for most of the race but chugged past the Crimson sophomore in the last quarter mile to win by a scant ten yards. His time was a scintillating 9:00.8, 0:01 faster than Hewlett, and 0:07.7 better than the old mark.

It was much the same story in the mile relay, the final race of the day, as another stellar Crimson performance failed to make the record book.

The three front runners, Aggrey Awori, Keith Chiappa, and Tony Lynch traded the lead several times with their Cadet counterparts in fast, exciting duels. Anchorman John Ogden took the baton three yards behind, and even a 0:48.5 leg couldn't close the gap.

The Crimson's time was 3:16.8, far better than the meet record of 3:18 but, unfortunately, slower than posted by the winning Cadet foursome.

The last gasp Army dramatics were made possible by some exciting preliminaries. In the 400-yard intermediate hurdles. Harvard's Lynch held a slim lead over Cadet Kent Allen but collided with the next to last hurdle, allowing Allen to saeak in first under the wire.

In the shot put. Army's Al Gimian scored a 48 ft., 3 1/2 in. heave on his final try to nip Harvard's Ray Frieden by 3/4 in. for second place and a crucial three points. Crimson junior Art Crossdale had taken first place in the event with a 53 ft., 7 1/2 in. put. But such misfortunes don't make the Army win a fluke. The Harvard athletes had their moments too.

The brightest star for the Crimson was Junior Awori, who scored victories in the broad jump, the 100-yard dash, and the 220-yard dash. Awori edged teammate Chris Ohiri in the broad jump, with a meet record leap of 23 ft., 8 3/4 in.

He also copped the 100 in 0:09.9 and the 220 in 0:22.0 with Army runners taking second and third both times.

Croasdale added a win in the hammer throw to his shot put victory to become the only other Crimson athlete to take more than one event. His hammer toss measured 182 ft., 3 in.

John Bakkensen headed a one-two Crimson finish in the discus with a meet record effort of 169 ft., 4 1/2 in. Chris Pardee won the high jump against weak opposition with a 6 ft., 4 in. leap. Captain Ed Meeham copped the 880-yard run in 1:53.5.

The last Crimson win came in the triple jump, as Ohiri smashed his Army opposition and the meet standard in the event with a fine leap of 47 ft., 10 1/2 in.

The Cadets managed only two field victories, in the javelin and pole vault, but scored devastating one-two-three sweeps in both. The other Cadet wins came in the 120-yard high hurdles, with Allen again nipping sophomore Lynch, the 440-yard run, where Lance Farrell led teammate Hal Jenkins across the finish line, and in the mile as Straub beat Meehan by two steps.

Straub's mile victory was a crucial one. Knowing he had the two-mile yet to run, the Cadet senior tried to preserve his strength with a slow pace in the early going. Meehan failed to challenge for the lead, however, and let Straub get away from him in the stretch. The time was a slow 4:17.4