Trackmen Glide To Upset of Army

Saturday was head track coach Bill McCurdy's birthday. By way of a gift, the varsity track team (and the freshmen too) gave him a Churchill Royal Jamaica victory cigar and the victory to go with it.

The varsity, in a show of sophomore strength, upset Army 97 to 5 in what was nothing much less than a rout.

Before the meet, head manager Ed Lincoln presented McCurdy with "the cigar created for Winston Churchill, master strategist and statesman, in honor of his defeat of a most potent military force." Lincoln said after the victory the McCurdy squad "overcame an equally potent military force at Harvard Stadium."

It was enough to make Red Auerbach jealous.

Auspicious Opening

The meet opened auspiciously. Ed Dugger and Walter Johnson each won victories in difficult heats for the 440 hurdles to take first and second place places respectively. Dugger was timed at 55.1, Johnson at 55.3. Team captain Johnson had an outstanding day, scoring 11 points in anchoring the mile relay team to a victory in which he came up from behind to edge an Army run-Quirk pulled away at the beginning and nerd at the line.

In the mile run which came right after the hurdle. Jon Ensco and John Quirk finished 1-2. Tom Spengler, fourth for most of the race, caught his Army opponent on the straightaway and nipped him at the line. Ensco's time was 4:16.7 while Quirk's was 4:17.3. Spengler was timed at 4:18.0.

In the 440, Army's Deacon Hannon took the lead over Harvard's Dave Anderson and held it for the first three-quarters of the race. Crimson runner Rick Melvoin kicked going into the final turn and passed everyone. He won the race in 49.5 seconds. Anderson took second with a time of 50.2, nipping Hammond by a tenth of a second.

Major Upset

In a major upset, Bailee Reid defeated Army's highly-touted Tony Dedmond in the 100. Reid's time of 9.9 wasA seconds better than Dedmond's. Harvard's Charlie Wilson took third.

The Crimson's Bill Biele took first place in the high jump, hurling himself 6'6" in his best jump of the year. He was two feet off Army's Pete Frolich. Teddy DeMars threw the hammer 183', his farthest throw ever, and took second place for Harvard. Joe Norton took first place in the shot put at 53' 13/4" while DeMars took second.

Harvard's Spectacular Sprinters, Charlie Wilson, John Schneider, Chris Alvord and Reid won the 440 sprint relay in 42.8 seconds.

The freshmen overwhelmed Army 101 to 51.

"On paper it was a close meet," one team member commented, "but after getting clobbered indoors, we had a lot to think about. It being Mayday, we did all we could."

After the meet, field coach Ed Stowell labelled the effort "inspired." "It is remarkable that our winning total is the same as the age of the head coach," he added.