Victory Seems Certain In Boston Track Meet

Harvard trackmen jumped out to an early lead yesterday in the first half of the two-day Greater Boston Colleges meet.

With the final results for four events in, the Crimson held first place with 34 points, while Tufts was a distant second with nine. There seems little chance that Harvard's lead will be in danger when the meet wraps up tomorrow with the running events at Boston College.

In yesterday's field events, the Crimson captured three of four first while sweeping the javelin.

Sophomore Richie Szaro hurled the spear 236', just seven feet short of the Harvard record he set in this year's Army meet. Football quarterback Frank Champi, doubling this spring as a javelin thrower, took second with a 209' throw. Rounding out the sweep was senior Henry Bernson.

With the scoring based on a 6-4-3-2-1 basis, the javelin accounted for 13 of the Crimson's 34 points.

Captain Dick Benka took honors in the shot, beating Northeastern's Andy Kenney by nearly two feet, Benka's 59'8" throw destroyed Kenney's chances of ever coming out on top in their three year rivalry, since this was the last GBC's for both.

Charlie Ajootian, NCAA 35-lb, weight champion, took third in the shot with a 53'3," heave.

Harvard remaining points came in the high jump, where Jim Coleman took first and Don Wilkes tied for third, and in the long jump, where sophomore Walter Johnson missed first by a scant three inches.

Although the finals of the running events don't get underway until this afternoon, the Crimson already has a head start due to strong performance in yesterday's qualifying heats.

Juniors Royce Shaw and Keith Colburn and Sophomore Tom Spengler all qualified in the 880-yard run, and today's race will probably be a question of which Crimson trackman will break the tape first. Shaw's qualifying time of 1:52.6 was the fastest of the day.

Shaw and Spengler will probably both double in the mile, but may have a tough battle with B.U.'s Peter Hoss for laurels in that event.

Sophomore John Gillis took his qualifying heat in 48.9 as Colburn qualified by coming in third. In the 440 hurdles, John Metzger and Ben Lounsbury each gained a place on the starting line today by taking their heats.

Harvard's sprinters also hope to pick up points in the 220 with three men qualifying, and in the 100, where John Schneider took first in his heat.

Captain Benka seems to feel that this is just a warm-up for things to come. "This is far from being the biggest meet of the year," he said. "We'd better be looking forward to the Yale meet and the Heps and avenging our indoor loss to Yale."