In addition to proving that Venske can outpace Cunningham in spite of the legendary explosive final spurt of the veteran miler, and that Lash is still as strong as ever in the two mile, the Veterans of Foreign Wars meet at Boston Garden Saturday night gave a part of the track team a chance to show it was headed in the right direction.

Coach Mikkola's face was ruddier and happier than over under his customary gray slouch hat on the side-lines Saturday. Bill Neufeld was smiling too. The prospects even this early in the season are not half as gloomy as Mikkola forecast after Christmas.

Vaulters Clear 13 Feet

Right in front of the coaches' side-line seats, Mitchell Ford and Steve Madey were boosting themselves over the high bar in the pole vault event at an even 13 feet. Ford, a Freshman, has shown his stuff in coming up from the 11 feet 6 inches he averaged before Jaakko took him in hand. Madey took first place and a medal in the event; be lunched along the runway three times and came heartbreakingly close to rolling over the bar at 13 feet 6 inches.

The track aggregation has been weak in the middle distances, but Hobie Lerner and Frank MacKechnie made out very well indeed. Lerner took a practically uncontested first in his heat in the 600 in 1:17.8. Satisfied that Lerner had overcome a tendency toward "meet-nervousness" to which he had been prone and anxious to keep him from over-strain, Jaakko scratched Lerner from the semi-finals. Although MacKechnie placed fifth in an eight man host in the same run, the finish was close enough to put him within an ace of pay time. A little more training will turn the trick for the "lab-be-labored" pacers.

Don MacKinnon cleared the high hurdles in fine form to take a fourth in the finals. The Freshman was state champion in the 220 low hurdles and shows promise of breaking his six second time if he can shoot from the starting mark faster. Don Donahne didn't seem to be near top form; although he won his heat in six flat, his start was slow, and he stopped on all three hurdles to lose the semi-finals in a close finish.