Cindermen Edge Northeastern With Clutch Comeback, 60-58

The Crimson trackmen traveled to Northeastern Saturday expecting a close, tough meet and came away with all they had bargained for in a nip-and-tuck, last- minute, 60-58 win.

Sprinter Todd Hooks and leaper Mel Embree paced the thinclads to victory with two wins each, but it took a clutch Crimson victory in the mile relay and a high jump sweep to ensure the meet's outcome in the closing moments.

Seesaw

Coach Bill McCurdy figured before the meet that Northeastern would be "the toughest team we'd face," and the Huskies gave him all the toughness he expected as the lead seesawed back and for the throughout the contest. "It was more exciting than the Super Bowl," McCurdy exclaimed.

Harvard opened strong in the weight events. Ed Ajootian nabbed his first varsity win in the 35-lb. Weight throw as he hurled a personal best 59 ft. 10 34 in. toss, just edging Dan Jiggetts for the top sport. Jiggetts picked up second place with a 59 ft. 10 12 in. heave.

Jiggetts Second

Jiggetts placed second in the shotput behind Huskie Roger Dupont with a 51 ft. 6 34 in. effort. Harvard's Kevin Mc-Cafferty picked up third with a 51 ft. 5 12 in. toss.

Northeastern countered with a 1-2 finish in the long jump, but the Crimson dominated the other leaping events. Embree bounded 46 ft. 73/4 in. to victory in the triple jump, and teammate Hasan Kayali placed second with 46 ft. 1 in.

Geoff Stiles hurdled to another win in the pole vault, crossing the bar at 14 ft. even. Teammate Steve Hanes backed up Stiles with a second-place tie.

Although Hooks blazed to victory in the hurdles in 6.5. seconds and in the dash in 5.5 seconds, Northeastern looked like they might pull by Harvard in the rest of the running events.

Bleak Outlook

The Huskies ran first and second in the 1000-yard run, the mile and the two-mile. The outlook looked even bleaker when Northeastern's Mack Lech upset Harvard captain Joel Peters in the 600-yard run.

With the Crimson down by seven and virtually conceding defeat in the final event, the two-mile relay, due to injuries and roster limitations, the meet boiled down to a simple reality. If Harvard won the mile relay and swept the high jump, the meet was theirs. A Crimson loss in either meant defeat.

After Gary Schmidt, Steve Brown, Sam Butler and Peters (who ran a 49.9 second anchor leg) ran past the Huskies in the relay in a 3:26.5 clocking, all eyes turned to the high jump.

As Mel Embree (6 ft. 10 in.), John Mc-Cullock (6 ft. 7 in.) and Dan Sullivan (6 ft. 6 in.) leaped to a sweep in that event, the pendulum and the meet swung toward the side of the Crimson.