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What the Track Team Faces.

Communications

(We invite all men in the University to submit communications on subjects of timely interest, but assume no responsibility for sentiments expressed under this head.)

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:-

During the last four years the track team has had a comparatively successful indoor season only to be found wanting in the spring when the outdoor meets are held. The forecast for the spring has been the same each year: the prospects are bright if some improvement can be made in the field events. It is ridiculous to assume that the material for these events is not available. It is here, and in trying to locate some of it, I am forced to admit that I have met some of the so-called Harvard indifference. Many of the men have shown their skill in other forms of athletics and are eligible track material, yet no amount of persuasion can induce them to come to the field and work for one short hour each day.

The team needs men, and needs them badly. If the inexperienced track man will review the records of the past few years, he will find conclusive proof that in the short space of a year a man has developed enough to win a point against Yale (and the margin of one point meant a victory over Yale last year) and in two years has developed into intercollegiate ranking. A fine example this year is one of our pole-vaulters who, in the spring of 1914, did not vault high enough to win a point in the Yale meet, but who, at the meet in Philadelphia last Saturday night, made an actual vault within one-half inch of the world's indoor record. Mr. Clark and Mr. Donovan are at the baseball cage every afternoon between five and six o'clock to help new men. At least give the game a try. Every man who weighs over 160 pounds is an available field event candidate. If you are not taking part in any other sport, you can do the track team a great service by trying to help us out of this serious predicament. W. J. BINGHAM '16.

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