Harvard's usually reliable distance runners were trounced by Holy Cross Saturday night, but the Crimson's sprinters and field event men picked up the slack and led the home track team to a 68-41 victory over the Crusaders.

The result of the meet was never really in doubt after the Crimson trio of Doten, Croasdale, and Clayman swept the first event, the 35 lb. weight toss.

The biggest thrills for the Crimson faithful came when Chris Ohirl set a Briggs Cage record with a broad jump of 24 ft. 4 in., and Aggrey Owori tied another Harvard indoor record with a 4.5 second win in the 40 yd. dash.

The Purple's Bill O'Brien put his team on the scoreboard with a winning leap in the high jump of 6 ft. 4 in. But the Crimson grabbed second and third in that event, swept the broad jump, and snatched first and second in the pole vault and first and third in the shot put to build up a commanding lead before the mile run.

Then came the Crusaders' first moment of glory. Crimson milers Ed Hamlin and Ed Meehan realized that Holy Cross had a respectable runner is Charles Buchta. They planned to move well ahead of Buchta before the last few laps in order to hold off the Crusader's finishing spirit.

Buchta Wine Mile

Their plans almost worked. Buchta trailed Hamlin and Meehan going into the final lap, but turned on a burst of speed that shot him past Hamlin with ten yards left in the race. Meehan also passed his teammate and finished 0.3 of a second behind Buchta's winning time of 4:15.7.

Holy Cross continued to dominate the long running events when Tom Noering won the 600 yd. race in 1:13.2. At this point it was mathematically conceivable that H.C. could win the meet, but Aworl eliminated that minute possibility by showing his heels to the whole field in the 40 yd. dash and high hurdles. A second place finish by Kevin O'Brien was the Purple's only representation in either of these events.

After John O'Connor won the 1000 yd. run for H.C. in 2:20.9, Harvard's Hamlin, Meehan, and Dick Hawkins swept the 2-mile run to prove that the Crimson was not helpless in endurance events. Then, just in case somebody was still watching, H.C. ended the meet by winning the 1 and 2 mile relays.

The victory left the track squad undefeated in dual meets this season. They take on Princeton and Yale in New Haven Saturday.