Trackmen Top Dartmouth Pottetti Sets Penn Relays Record

Dave Pottetti won the 3000 meter steeplechase in a record time of 8:47.0 at the Penn Relays Saturday, while his Harvard teammates overwhelmed a hapless Dartmouth track team. 115-39, on Boston College's tartan-surface track.

Pottetti was the only Harvard entrant to win in Phliadelphia, as the Crimson's distance contingent could only muster a fourth in the medley and four-mile relays, and a seventh in the Hep mile relay.

The four-mile foursome of captain Keith Colburn, Roy Shaw, Jon Enscoe, and Tom Spengler turned in a 4:19.0, and the medley team trailed Villanova, Maryland, and Texas at El Paso to the wire on Friday afternoon.

Harvard coach Bill McCurdy had expressed concern over the absence of his top distance men against Dartmouth, but Erik Roth-a senior who has yet to win a varsity track letter-dispelled any doubt about the Crimson's distance supremacy when he won both the mile and the two mile.

The victories were Roth's first in collegiate competition. He nipped teammate Mike Koerner in both events, winning the mile in 4:19.1 and the two mile in 9:23 flat. As McCurdy said after Roth's mildly surprising performance, "He sure won his letter today."

There was little question as to the outcome of the meet after Harvard swept the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and javelin and took the first two places in the high jump. By shutting the Indians out, the Crimson more than offset Dartmouth's expected domination of the throwing events.

Harvard won every running event, taking first and second in the mile, 100, 220, and two mile, and sweeping the intermediate hurdles.

"It was just a matter of things falling our way in a lot of events that were hard to predict beforehand." McCurdy said after his team had wrapped up its second dual victory against no defeats.

Skip Hare won both the long jump and the triple jump. the former with a leap of 24 feet 4 inches, and Chris Alvord again doubled in the 100 and 220.

Walter Johnson's 14.4 in the high hurdles was a personal best, and his mile relay leg of 48.4 combined with Ed Dugger's 48.5 to bring the Crimson home well ahead in the meet's final event.

The Harvard freshmen used outstanding performances in the field events by Kevin Benjamin. Ted DeMars, Pauli Jarvepaa, and Jeff Corwin to handily defeat the Dartmouth freshmen, 102-43.