Track Team Comes Out Empty-Handed

Jim Baker set a University record in the two-mile but the rest of the Crimson track team made a dismal showing in Saturday's Knights of Columbus Games in Boston Garden.

Baker stayed with Olympic-calibre competition for 18 of the 22 laps around the Garden oval, then, tired and finished eighth. His time was 9:11, six tenths of a second faster than Walt Hewlett's Harvard mark. England's Alan Simpson won the race, the best of the evening, with a meet record clocking of 8:41.6.

Other Harvardmen were chasing records too, but none of them came close. Pole vaulter Steve Schoonover, competing with a heavily bandaged thigh, failed to clear 14 ft. after making 13 ft., 6 in. look easy. John Pennel won the event at 15 ft., 6 in.

Jim Smith's sluggish lead-off leg of 2:02 in the two-mile relay squelched the quartet's record aspirations. Coach Bill McCurdy had to shuffle his relay squads after Sam Robinson pulled up with a muscle strain in the preliminaries of the dash.

Frank Haggerty, normally part of the two-mile foursome, filled in for Robinson in the mile-relay and teamed with John Dockery, Bob Cook, and Tony Lynch. The time was 3:22.5, well off the Harvard record of 3:19.6.

Another disappointment was Chris Pardee, who didn't compete in the high jump. Dick Loebl, the team manager, said that Pardee stayed away because he "doesn't want to reach his peak too early." John Thomas won with a piddling leap of 6 ft., 9 in.

Ran Langenbach provided some excitement by leading the New England mile for six laps, but he faded to ninth place. Lynch took a fifth place in the hurdles final after surviving the qualifying and semi-final heats. Willie Davenport of Southern University beat Courtland Gray and Ken Coniglio of Villanova for first place.

Wayne Andersen, defending Heptagonal sprint champion, started slow and finished slower in his qualifying heat in the 50-yard dash. Robinson and Andy Cahners both made it to the semis, but Robinson scratched because of his muscle pull, and Cahners found the going a little too fast. George Anderson of Southern University beat Morgan State's Ray Pollard and favorite Sam Perry of Fordham for the title.

Jeff Huvelle finished third on times in the 500-yard run, which he won last year as a freshman. He placed third in his heat, but his clocking was faster than that of the previous two heats.