Competing for the last time prior to his departure for the armed forces early next month, Freshman track star Jeff Tootell ducked into the big time sports limelight last Thursday by winning the 16 pound shot event in the annual New England AAU Track and Field Championships at the Boston YMCA Cage. The distance was 44 feet, 7 1/2 inches.

It was Tootell's best effort since he entered College last November with the Class of '48b, fresh from Tabor Academy, where he had copped the national interscholastic shot-put title. Previously during the past term, he had won easily at Tufts, Andover, and Exeter, switching in the two prep-school meets to the lighter 12 pound schoolboy shot.

Unlimited Potentialities

Since the dirt surface in Briggs Cage was tarred over last year to serve as basketball courts for the various Navy and Army training units, Tootell had to do his practice tossing on the hard surface with a heavy, india-rubber shot. But under the daily training of Coach Mikkola, former mentor of Finnish Olympic track teams, he soon had the Boston scribes taking notice.

Ultimate goal of the towering, touseledhaired Freshman is naturally a crack at the Harvard shot-put record, (50 feet), set back in 1940 by Mikkola-trained Howard Mendel '40, at the IC4A Championships in Harvard Stadium. And after that, there may be even greener pastures. Meanwhile, Mikkola nods his head, thinking at the same time how badly he's going to miss those much-needed shot-put points next spring. "He'll be a good man when he comes back," Jaako smiles.