Thinclads Ninth at IC4As; Stiles, Relay Team Shine

As Harvard senior Geoff Stiles soared to a new IC4A record in the pole vault, the Crimson two-mile relay team simultaneously qualified for the nationals--falling just short of track powerhouse Villanova, which went on to capture the team championship yesterday at Jadwyn Gym in Princeton, N.J.

Out of the 40 Eastern colleges that competed, the Crimson placed ninth with 18 points while Villanova, Maryland and Manhattan snatched first, second and third place honors with scores of 99, 78 and 34, respectively.

Stiles's vault of 17-ft., 1-in. topped both his personal best and the old IC4A mark by four inches. The Californian captain's closest competitor dropped out at 16-ft., 0 in.

Rumor has it that just as Stiles cleared the bar, John Murphy broke away from Princeton's Dan Challener in the anchor leg of the two-mile relay to secure a second-place finish for the Crimson.

Murphy, John Chafee. Thad McNulty, and Adam Dixon all qualified for the IC4As individually but chose to run only the relay in hopes that by not doubling they would have a greater chance of qualifying for the nationals in the relay.

The strategy paid off as Dixon ran a strong first leg before handing off to Chafee, who worked up about a six-yard lead which McNulty widened.

Murphy's work was cut out for him as his fellow anchor runners included Villanova's Don Page, who holds the world indoor record for the 1000, and Princeton's Challener, who bested Murphy in the 1000 two weeks ago in a dual meet.

"Running against Page was impending doom, but I knew I could beat Challener," Murphy said after the race.

Murphy did just that, finishing at 7:31.54, behind Villanova which crossed the line .44 seconds earlier, while Princeton trailed by .15 seconds. All three teams qualified for the nationals next weekend in Detroit.

"We're all psyched to hit Motor City and see what we can do," Thad McNulty said yesterday.