The gymnasium was crowded with nearly 1,600 people eagor to witness the sports of the H. A. A. The ladies were out in force, as is always the case on the second ladies day of our winter meetings. The meeting was one of the best we have seen for years, records were broken, the tug-of-war was intensely exciting, and a novelty was presented in the exhibition of German duelling. There was not a hitch on the whole afternoon's entertainment, and the managers are to be congratulated upon the smoothness with which everything went off. On account of the tie for the running high jump, the class pennant is still in doubt.
The first event of the day was
THE RUNNING HIGH JUMP."The best exhibition of high jumping ever seen in the Hemenway gymnasium," said a gentlemen who has been a regular spectator at our games for several years. Such, indeed, was the case. Of the four men, Bachelder, L. S.; Fogg and Atkinson. '85, and H. L. Clark, '87, who were entered only one man fell out until the bar was at an almost unparalleled height. Bachelder only cleared the first height, 4 ft. 4 1-2 in. and then withdrew. Up and up went the bar until the others had all gone over 5 ft. 8 3-4 in. This is the greatest height ever cleared at an indoors meeting of the H. A. A. All failed at the next height, 5 ft. 9 1-2 in., and when the bar was placed still higher, 5 ft. 10 1-4, for them to jump off the tie, they ah failed again, and the result was declared a tie. Each of the three men will receive a cup.
PARALLEL BARS.There were five entries for this event, T. C. Bachelder, L. S.; C. E. Loud, '87; B. F. Clark, '87, G. P. Furber, '87; and F. C. Roby, '88. Each man showed a high degree of proficiency, and the exhibition was the best that has been seen here for several years. The cup was won by Bachelder. The second prize was awarded to Clark, there being five entries, which is the necessary number for a second prize in any event.
SPRING BOARD LEAPINGwas a new feature due to the presence of Mr. Lathrop as physical assistant. Knapp, C. S., A. T. Dudley and Osgood of the sophomore class were the contestants. After a few preliminary somersaults from the board, they tried to see who could leap the highest over a bar. Dudley won, and Knapp and Osgood were even for second place. Dudley went over the bar at 8 ft., 3 1-2 in. from the ground. The spring board was nearly two feet high.
RUNNING HIGH KICK.For this event there were five entries: F. B. Fogg, '85; L. S. Thayer, '88; H. L. Clark, '87; W. D. Bancroft, '88; B. C. Henry, '86. Bancroft was the first to fall out. After him came Thayer and Clark respectively. Henry kicked 8 ft. 10 in., but failed to do anything more. Fogg won the cup by kicking 9 ft. 2 3.4 in., thus beating the record by 3 4 of aninch. After this, Fogg hitched and kicked 8 ft. 11 in., thus beating the previous record 8 ft. 6 in., which was made by himself at the last Technology sports.
HORIZONTAL BAR.For this four men contested. Bachelder, L. S.; Osgood, '87; Knapp, C. S.; and Roby, '88. The first two have been seen on the bar befre; the latter two were new men. Many graceful and some very difficult feats were executed. Knapp was declared winner.
GERMAN DUELLING.This was the novel feature of the meeting. When Fogg had made his last hitch and kick and the horizontal bar contest was still in progress. Reynolds, C. S., and Lempe, M. S., the two principals, and their seconds, Furness '88, and Sternburgh, '87, came out with their long dueling swords. The principals were protected with head masks and leather guards on their right arms. The seconds had on caps of different German university student corps, and wore little aprons of the same color as their cap bands. Three rounds of a minute each were fought. Each time a second would start the fight by calling out schlagenaus, scheigenaus, los, and then a slashing of sword blades would ensue until one or the other principal had made a point. Then the seconds interposed their swords until the point was scored and the fight allowed to proceed again. In the end, Reynolds was declared the winner, having scored 7 points to 4 by his opponent.
THE FLYING RINGS.The entries for the flying rings were as follows: T. C. Bachelder, L. S; G. A. Pudor, '86; S. L, Swarts, '88; C. O. Lander, '86; S. T. Stevens, M. S; and J. B. Walker, M. S. The exhibition was good, but on account of the large number of entries, was somewhat tedious. The cup was awarded to Bachelder, and the second prize to Pudor.
TUMBLINGFollowed the flying rings, A. T. Dudley, and Knapp, C. S. were the only men of the large number who have practiced tumbling during the winter who cared to contest for the prize. A variety of single and double somersaults, hand springs, one handed somersaults, etc., made up the programme in this contest. Dudley was awarded the prize.
TUG-OF-WAR.This was the closest and most exciting event of the day. The eighty-six team was composed of the following men, Dewey, (anchor), Cabot, Churchill, and Adams. Eighty-eight, Balch, (anchor), Chase, Purdon, and Pease.
Eighty-eight won the drop by a fraction of an inch, but did not hold it long, and at the end of two minutes the ribbon, was exactly in the middle. Both sides lay on the rope for the next minute, and each anchor was laying for the other in order to catch him in case he should start to heave. During the fifth minute, Balch took in rope, and by a succession of powerful heaves brought the ribbon one and a half inches over to his side, where it remained until time was called. The victorious team was carried off on the shoulders of their classmates, who were wild with excitement, and well they might be, as this is the first time that a freshman tug-of-war team has been victorious since the new method of pulling on cleats has been adopted.
At the close of the first event, in accordance with a note printed on the programmes, a gong was sounded, and everyone sat still while the building, and the audience were photographed. Storrow, '87, had his camera in the south west end of the gallery, and Mr. Tupper, Pach's operator, had his in the north west corner. The audience hardly realized that an effort was being made to photograph them, and did not sit very still, so the worth of the result is rather doubtful. Mr. Tupper took two and Mr. Storrow one picture.
Later on when the spring board was being put in position, President. Atkinson brought out the box containing the "Challenge Cup" of the Inter-collegiate Athletic Association, commouly known as the Mott Haven trophy. Mr. Atkinson took out the cup, and holding it up to the gaze of the audience, made a neat speech explaining the significance of the cup, how Harvard has held it for five years in succession, and who the winners were at the last meeting; the tug-of-war team, Easton, Curtis, and Fiske, L. S. and Crane, '84; Wendell Baker, '86, 220 yards dash; W. H. Goodwin, '84, quarter, and half mile runs; and Atkinson himself, who won the running high jump. At the close of his remarks, nine cheers were given for Mr. Atkinson, and then nine more the for H. A. A. The Challenge Cup is good for five years more, and then will belong to the college which has won it the greater number of times.
The officers of the meeting were: Referee, G. B. Morison, '83; Judges, W. Soren, '83, and A. C. Denniston, '83 The officers of the association for this year to whose efforts the success of the meetings are due are: President, C. H. Atkinson, '85; Vice-President, A. T.French, '85; Treasurer, R. D. Smith '86; Secretary, H. L. Clark, '87; Stewards, J. E. Thayer, and W. R. Trask, '85, W. Baker, and F. S. Parker, '86; J. S. Russell, and F. Remington; 87, C. Amory and F. G. Balch, '88.
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