The 1912 track team has made a good start. At the B. A. A. games on Saturday two Harvard relay teams defeated Yale and Princeton, respectively, and the Freshman relay team defeated the Yale freshmen. If indoor results are at all significant, this showing promises well for the important outdoor meets of the late spring. Also the very fair cross-country record of last fall, combined with Saturday's results, makes it plain that the coaches will have at their command at least one of the two elements necessary for a winning track team.
But in the field events Harvard has had only one or two reliable point-winners in a number of years, the excellent work of the track men last season being largely offset by mediocre results in the field events. Strangely enough Yale has recently outclassed Harvard in this particular, but this season Captain Gardner seems to be the only star field athlete, and Harvard should make a relatively better showing. The Great need of the 1912 track team is a large squad of field men, whence the coaches may obtain consistent performers in the weights and jumps. If these can be developed, Captain Withington's team will turn out unusually well-balanced.
But to obtain a sufficiently large squad, the coaches must draw upon men who either have done no track work before, or who have not touched a piece of apparatus since they left school. It is just these two classes that this year's track team needs. From just such men some of the best track and field athletes have been developed. Examinations are over, the warm weather is not far away. Let every man who is not taking regular exercise (and they are all too many at this time) not only perform that all important function, but do a share toward future track victories by reporting immediately to coach or captain.
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"POWER PLANT OPERATION"