Jaakko Mikkola's Varsity track team, which last spring set itself up as king of the Ivy League mountain by winning the nonagonals, now finds itself in the embarrassing position of having to bluff its way past some considerably more muscular contenders to the throne. It's not going to be easy.

The fireworks start Monday at New Haven. Kicked around six times in dual, nonagonal, and IC4A competition by the Crimson last year, the Bulldog today is supposed to have enough tooth to get second place in the indoor IC4A championships February 28. Monday afternoon, an Alumni Day crowd will fill Coxo Memorial Cage to watch Bob Glegengack's team even things up with the Harvards.

And unless some of Jaakko's runners grow wings this week, that's exactly what the Elis will do. Even Mikkola has conceded the Crimson "only a fighting chance." Not that the Varsity is sick. It is just that Yale has fattened up since last year so that now its overall depth of material is frightening.

The Crimson, on the other hand, while improving in some of the running events, has lost its 10-point-a-meet hurdler, Wes Flint, along with other field veterans like Jack Fisher and Pete Harwood, all through graduation. Jeff Tootell and Dick Stokes were supposed to have taken up some of the slack in the shot put and hurdles but both of these men are currently on probation.

They say the backbone of any track team is the cross country material, in which case the backbone of this year's Varsity should be jolly. Happily, it is not quite that. Red-headed Frank Gurley, the captain, can double effectively in the 1000 and two-mile relay. His 2:15 1000 at West Point earlier this month stands up against anything Yale has done in that event.

Cool Jon Spivak has developed over night into what Jaakko has been looking for in the dashes for the past five years. Under the guidance of University 220 record-holder Doug Pirnie, who now coaches the Freshmen and helps out with the Varsity sprinters, Spivak should get even better.

After these two, there are a few capable, but not spectacular runners: Dave Hamblett, Al Ruby, and Jim Wheeler in the middle distances: Bill "Atom" Baker in the mile; two-milers Huna Rosenfeld and Jack Cogan; and sprinter Harvey Thayer. But nobody, not even Gurley, comes close to being another Lightbody.

It is in the field events and particularly in the weights that the current Harvard team holds whatever knockout punch it has. Sam Felton, of course, heads the list. Despite his embarrassment at so much coverage in relation to his teammates, he will be getting even bigger headlines in the next few months. He is the number one college weightman in the country today.

The pole vault, with three men capable of 13 feet or so, is possibly the Crimson's strongest single event except for the 35-pound weight. Bud Lockett, of New Orleans, Bill Lawrence, and Owen Torrey, whose broken leg has mended, form the Varsity vaulting triumvirate.

Elsewhere in the field events, the team is pretty much skin deep-one good man in each event. With Tootell on disciplinary probation, Don Trimble will get whatever points the Crimson manufactures in the shot. He hit 47 feet at West Point.

Gene Harrigan gets up around six feet in the high jump, and in the broad jump Harvey Thayer appears to have established himself as the top man.