Thank heavens coach Bill McCurdy and his boys won't have to face up to the searing tension of a clash with Holy Cross again for 365 big days.

Even though the Crimson whipped the Crusaders by an 82-27 count last year, the word from the track office was that last night's meet would be a lot closer. And it was. But a fighting Crimson aggregation rallied from the brink of certain defeat to pull out a thrilling 71 1/2-37 1/2 triumph. Why, there wasn't a dry eye in Briggs Cage.

The varsity ran up a 42 1/2-2 1/2 edge in the field events last night, and the Crusaders would have needed an unbelievable showing on the track to make up the deficit. Crimson captain Mark Mullin, along with Ed Hamlin and Eddie Meehan, killed that hope in the first running event of the night, the mile.

Mullin led all the way to win in 4:16.6, a fine time that could have been even faster if he had cut a few seconds off his 66.5 third quarter. Meehan and Hamlin ran second and fourth, on either side of Holy Cross co-captain Bud Barker, until the final 160 yards, when Hamlin unfurled a closing sprint that carried him into second, just ahead of Meehan.

That was effectively that. Don Kirkland ran a brilliant race to edge out Crusader Tom Noering in the 600, but the judges didn't appreciate the beauty of it all, and called Kirkland for flying elbows. The varsity salvaged a tie for second by Lowell Davidson.

Hatch Takes Hurdles

The Crimson's Hank Hatch turned in a really outstanding 5.3 effort to take the hurdles, and Greg Baldwin won the two mile. For Holy Cross, Rich Maiberger took the dash in a good 4.6, and Charlie Buchta was the winner in a slow 2:22.1 1000.

A dropped baton cost the varsity the mile relay, but by then everyone's mind was on the last race of the evening. The Crimson was going to challenge Holy Cross' 7:35 two-mile unit.

Some challenge. Crusader Kevin Callahan held the lead against Meehan for three laps of the first leg, and then Meehan ran him into the ground, handing Kirkland a 25-yard edge. Kirkland increased the margin to 40 yards against Noering, and Hamlin and Mullin held their own against Barker and Ruchta.

Meehan was timed in 2:01.5, Kirkland in 2:00.5, Hamlin in a rapid 1:57.5, and Mullin in 1:59.4, for a 7:58.9 effort.

Varsity Racks Field Events

In the field events, Rick DeLone of the Crimson threw the shot 56 ft., 9 3/4 in., and Sarge Nichols came up with a personal best of 54 ft., 1 3/4 in. for second place. Sid Marland contributed a 22 ft., 10 1/4 in. broad jump. Other varsity winners were Ted Bailey in the weight, Don Forte in the pole vault, and George Jones and Marty Beckwith in the high jump.

The Yardlings defeated Holy Cross, 59 to 45, despite four blue ribbons by Crusader Kevin O'Brien. O'Brien won the high jump, broad jump, and hurdles (at 5.2, no less), and ran a leg on the victorious mile relay team.