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Harvard and Army turned Saturday's Heptagonal track championships into a dramatic two team duel, and the Crimson runners escaped from Ithaca on the long end of a 57-56 decision.
This was the third consecutive Heptagonal indoor win by a Harvard team--a heps record. The Crimson's score was also the third highest in the tourney's history, eight points shy of the mark set by last year's Harvard squad.
Four Crimson performers won their events, setting two Heptagonal and one. University record in the process.
The most impressive victory belonged to Chris Pardee in the high jump. Frustrated in his last two attempts to carry away the Heptagonal crown, Pardee jumped 6 ft., 10 1/4 in. to top arch-rival Karl Kremser of Army (6 ft., 8 in.) and set two records.
Pardee made his winning jump on his second try at the height, and just missed in his second attempt at 6 ft., 11 in, when his trailing leg brushed the crossbar. Pardee also scored a surprise second in the broad jump with a 23 ft., 6 1/2 in. leap, 2 1/2 in. short of the winning jump by Navy's Tom Palkie.
Crimson captain Tony Lynch set a Heptagonal mark with his 0:07.2 clocking in the 60-yard high hurdles. The time tied the Harvard record he set at the IC4A championships the week before.
Wayne Andersen upset Navy's highly touted Bob Donohue in a successful defense of his crown in the 60-yard dash. Both runners were clocked in 0:06.2.
Sophomores Trey Burns and Bob Stempson finished one-two in the thousand with a judges' decision giving Burns the nod for first place. The pair crossed the finish line in 2:14.0 with their nearest rivals a good 15 yards behind. Princeton's Terry O'Keeffe, co-favored with Burns in the event didn't show up for the meet.
Steve Schoonover pole vaulted 14 ft., 4 in., high enough for second place in the event and a new University record. Army's Steve Kujawski won at 14 ft., 8 in. Harvard's David Bell cleared 14 ft., to gain fifth in the vault, giving the Crimson two scorers in the event for the first time in anyone's memory.
Jim Baker, the favorite in two-mile, was a disappointing second behind Navy's Greg Williams. Baker ran on Williams' shoulder until the final lap but he didn't have his patented kick at the finish. Williams was clocked in 9:15.3, Baker in 9:17. Harvard's Dave Allen placed fourth.
Jeff Huvelle was a third place finisher in the 600, behind the favored tandem of Cornell's Bill Bruckle and Yale's Mark Young. Bruckle's winning time of 1:11.5 beat Huvelle by a full second.
The Crimson's other scores came from Carter Lord, fourth-place finisher in the shot with a 52 ft., 3/4 in. put, Jim Smith in the mile, fifth place in 4:23, and the relay teams.
Coming into the relays, the Crimson held a five-point lead over Army. The margin shrank to three after the Cadets won the two-mile, and the Harvard quartet finished a close second. Army's time was 7:49.7; the Crimson's, 7:48.0.
The mile relay was even closer, and once again the order was the same. Both teams were clocked in 3:21.2. Lynch and Army anchorman Rance Farrell were even when they got the pass, but Farrell pulled ahead on the last turn. Lynch held off the other runners for the necessary four points.
Army had piled up big totals in two events, the shot put and the mile. In the shot, Cadet performers finished first, second, and fifth for 11 points. Even without the services of their best middle distance runner, Jim Warner, the Cadets managed first and second places for ten points in the mile. Bob McDonald was the winner in 4:16.6.
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