The Leader of the Pack

Last summer, cross country captain Tom Spengler thought he'd be fighting for a good position on Harvard's team. But since the start of the season, Spengler has won seven of the eight races he has run and finished second in the other-the Heptagonals.

He might not have had such an easy time if injuries hadn't sidelined Mike Koerner and Marshall Jones; nevertheless, Spengler has done better than anyone had expected and has developed into one of the East's best cross country runners.

'Tough'

Most people attribute his success to "toughness." "Spengler's a guy who can take a lot of punishment," teammate Howie Foye said last month. Bob Seals, who often runs with Spengler early in the race until Spengler moves ahead, regularly remarks after a race about "how tough Spin is."

Coach Bill McCurdy said early this Fall that Spengler was the first Harvard runner he could remember who had never missed a workout in three years of preseason camp. The team runs arduous double workouts for two or three weeks at its camp. His consistency is further documented by the fact that he has never finished lower than fifth on the team, despite the series of outstanding runners Harvard has had recently.

The Early Years

When questioned about his reputed toughness. Spengler explains it as an outgrowth of his extreme competitiveness. He was the middle of five boys in his family, and his brother three-and-a-half years older than he matched him against older boys in a variety of sports.

At Arlington High School, Spengler was practically the only serious runner. Most of his track teammates were likely to run a quarter mile as a workout, while he tended to put in perhaps two miles of work. It was a relatively uninspiring experience.

Harvard

Running for Harvard has been completely different because of the "sense of team." He enjoys practicing with other devoted runners and being able to share an interest.

But being captain hasn't been completely enjoyable for him. "You have to think about how to help the other guys, and you have to express confidence to them," he explained Thursday.

There are two cross country meets left for Spengler, the IC4A's Monday and the NCAA's a week later. "I'd like to be in the top five Monday," he said.

One problem he's had, however, is a flare up of a hip injury which cut short his junior year of cross country. Because of it, he has not been able to work out too much the last two weeks. "I'm trying to regain some of my confidence now. I'd feel a lot better if I'd won the Heps."

Exciting Experiences

Perhaps an even more exciting aspect of Spengler's life is his experience with cars. In the last 18 months, he has been in three accidents. The first one was two summers ago when he put his Volkswagen through a 360-degree spin on the Mass Pike before it flipped over. He was not hurt.

Last Fall, he and five teammates were rushing along the Major Deegan Expressway in New York hoping to catch a plane in time to make it back to Boston for a concert by Sly and the Family Stone. It was a Hertz Chevrolet driven by Keith Colburn.

Colburn was changing lanes on the wet road when he lost control and the car did a full turn. "There's a second when you say 'It's all over,' " Spengler explained, "but I felt like a veteran."

Accident number three occurred on the Kansas Turnpike with Royce Shaw at the wheel. He and Colburn had decided to see who could drive the Hertz car farther in an hour, and Shaw looked like a sure winner until he couldn't handle a bend in the road and began to swerve back and forth. "That one seared me,'" Spengler recalls.

He also remembers the details. First, Shaw hit a state police car stopped on the shoulder of the road, which careened him safely through the bridge. Then he hit a wooden post, knocking it 35 feet, before crossing the center strip and completing a spin.

"The first thing Shaw did was get out and make sure his guitar was all right," Spengler said. "And then he wanted to split the ticket cost ($35).

"Since then McCurdy's been very hesitant to rent cars."