William C. Palson '44 of Thayer Hall and Winchester was elected captain of the Freshman track team last night. Palson has starred in the two mile races this season, winning both his last competitions by startlingly wide margins.
Even the traditionally optimistic Jaakko Mikkola is not too confident of what the final tally sheet will read tomorrow afternoon when the boys head back to the showers after the final event of the twenty-fourth annual Dartmouth-Harvard track meet.
He confines his hopes to holding the Indians to a low-scoring triumph or in his lighter moments may wish for some miraculous upset. It appears all too probable that the invading Green will repeat its mid-winter Hanover win by a nearly identical margin of 24 points.
While the Varsity is struggling through its firs official contest in the Stadium, newly-elected Captain Bill Palson takes his pro-ridden Freshmen to Andover for a triangular encounter with the Dartmouth Yearlings and the Blue home force. In the indoor meeting of these squads last winter, Andover finished ahead of the Yardlings and Greenlings in that order.
Varsity Holds Back Cat In Bag
The story has been told innumerable times of how the Indians can never break the thirty-year streak of Soldiers Field defeats and that, as superior as they may appear before the gun, the jinx will again return to black cat them. But this spring the most loyal Cambridge prophets are wary of the mounting liabilities their favorites must overcome.
Chief worry is the inexperience and youthfulness of the novice Sophomore runners who have replaced last year's Senior crew. In nearly every event, Crimson hopes rest upon the untried shoulders of second-year men. Captain Don Donahue, Senior hurdler, and Junior Dick Pfister, who puts the shot and spins the discus, are the most notable exceptions. The dopesters, in fact, classify them as the only two capable of double firsts for Harvard.
Injuries Injurious
Over and above this sparsity of ten-point men, the local injury list has cut deeply into the team's most vulnerable spots. Dashman Charlie Smith is still out indefinitely and Don McCaul, one of Mikkola's most dependable two-milers, must also remain on the sidelines.
This turns the sprints over to Sophomore Doug Pirnie and ex-soccer Captain Dave Ives, and the longest run to Lang Burwell, only shortly off the sick list himself, Bob Jay, and Tom McElligott.
Bob Partlow, erratic Senior jumper, will only enter the high event as he has had merely a single week of practice. There he has his work out out for him in the form of Don Blount who has reached 6 feet 5 inches. Ives and Pirnie in the broad and John Bunker in the high will also see some of Blount's artistry. Blount holds the Dartmouth broad jump title of 24 feet 6, 4-5 inches.
Among the other events Bob Chase weighing a fly-weight 160 is given top odds over any heavy the Indians may bring down. The field events are Harvard's strongest with greatest possibility of a flasco in the middle distances
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