Workouts of the combined Harvard-Yale track team entered the tapering-off stage yesterday, as the 21-man squad readied for the first meet of its British trip Saturday against a select Oxford-Cambridge squad.

This will be the sixteenth meet in a series which started in 1899. The English have won eight times, the Americans seven. In the last meet--held in the Stadium in 1949--the British squad won, 8 to 5. Only first places count.

An American win would bring the laurels back to this country for the first time since 1933. Oxford-Cambridge triumphed in 1935, 1937, and 1939, before the war interrupted the series.

Of the five Americans who will be competing in the meet for the second time, three won points in 1949. Eli George Appel tied for pole-vault honors, while Yale's high-jumping Hipple twins shared first in their event. Crimson hurdler Charlie Durakis, however, narrowly missed winning the 120-yard high hurdles. He knocked over the last hurdle and lost, after holding a six-foot lead most of the way. Bill Geick, the other Crimson returnee, lost the 1949 broad-jump by an inch and three-quarters.

Not much is available on the Oxford-Cambridge squad, but the Americans seem particularly strong in some events. The Crimson's Al Wilson should' win the shot-put, and Appel and the Hipples could very well repeat.

Crimson sophomore Bob Twitchell is a strong entry in both high and low hurdles, and Ron Berman will be favored in the 800-yard run.