It has been a tough year for Harvard senior distance man Ric Rojas. First there was that hard luck cross country season, and the bad cold that caused him to drop out at the two-mile mark in the fall Heptagonals.

Then there was the winter let down, and the flu that ruined any chances for a two-mile crown at the Greater Boston Championships.

But everything changed this weekend. Rojas finally put it together. He strung three sub-4:35 miles together to capture second in the prestigious Penn Relays, and racked up a school record of a 13:30.4 in the three mile.

Fell Short

Rojas's time fell short of a strong race by Penn State's Charles McGuire, who clocked a 13:27.0 and snapped Greg Frederick's old record of 13:31.6.

The Crimson stalwart wasn't the only resident thinclad to pick up points while in Philadelphia. Mel Embree jumped to 6 ft. 10 in. and a fifth place in front of 32,000 fans in Penn's Franklin Field. Embree, the Harvard record-holder, at 7 ft. 1/4 in., said yesterday that he didn't jump his best because he "was a little tired."

Embree and the other Crimson trackmen have been subjected to four track meets in eight days, an understandable cause of the fatigue.

Setback in Mile Relay

The Harvard mile relay squad of Sam Butler, Nick Leone, Randy Buckley, and Joel Peters suffered a setback when Buckley pulled up during his quarter leg. Butler had gone out fast in the opening 440, but it is impossible to predict how well the Crimson would have placed, considering the over-abundance of sub-3:15 mile relay squads.

North Carolina's Tony Waldrop provided most of the meet's excitement, clocking a 3:53.2 in the mile, the fastest time ever recorded in the East.

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, possibly feeling the effects of the rigorous schedule, leaped to seventh in the long jump, and did not participate in the triple jump.