The spring season for the University and Freshman track teams got under way yesterday when 150 candidates turned out for the initial meeting at Soldiers Field. Coach Farrell viewed the large showing with satisfaction, delivered his annual training talk, and formally inaugurated the season for 1925. Although still optimistic concerning his prospects for the coming months he again emphasized the difficulty which the University team will meet and the importance of the proper preliminary work.
"I believe", Coach Farrell said, "that considering this year's results so far we should have a very good chance of beating Yale in the outdoor intercollegiate this spring." He pointed out, however, that a comparison of returning competitors would make Yale the favorite and that the winning of meets will largely depend upon the development of the new material. Outlining the schedule, he pointed out just what opposition would be met and the training necessary for each meet.
Start Practice Immediately
Following the meeting, practice for all candidates was immediately begun. The field event men were all put through their regular work with the discus, javelin, and weights while the hurdlers, jumpers, and runners were assigned to the track.
A particularly trying contest this year, which will come after the end of the regular season, according to Coach Farrell, will be the Harvard-Yale-Oxford-Cambridge meet on July 11. The date for this meet was originally set for a week earlier and there was considerable difficulty in arranging it so as to satisfy both the English and American teams. The Englishmen would have been unable to bring over some of their most formidable material and at the suggestion of the University the later date was offered to enable them to present a complete line-up. Among the men whom the Harvard-Yale forces will have most to fear in the meet are Porritt, the sensational New Zealand sprinter who last year broke the 100-yard record in the English dual meet and captured second in both the hurdle events, Lord Burnham, who holds a 12-foot pole vaulting record, and Lowe, the English captain and star hurdler.
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