Remember the days when, if you had one good guy on the team, then you stood a chance of winning? The Dartmouth track team is still playing in those days.
The Big Green squad arrives at Harvard today with one of the foremost javelin artists in the East--sophomore Skip Cummins. The New England intercollegiate record holder, Cummins placed second at the Penn Relays last weekend, and has already uncorked a throw of 246 ft. 10 in. in a triangular meet with Northeastern and Boston University.
But after Cummins lets loose his speared salvos, the Big Green attack formation will be without a vanguard. Coach Edgar Stowell's field men should outflank Dartmouth in every other event, possibly excepting the discus, which Dartmouth's Don Starr has been throwing with increasing ability.
But Starr and Cummins together wouldn't be able to make up for what Dartmouth Coach Ken Weinbel yesterday called a "not so strong jumping line-up." Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace and Mel Embree, both plagued with an overloaded schedule, should be able to take a breather against the Big Green leaping corps.
Dartmouth's weaknesses extend beyond the limits of the field competition. Hanover's runners have yet to dazzle any rivals, with the middle and long distance outfits looking especially poor. Ed Spinney, a Big Green miler, broke 4:10 in an indoor meet, but has not hit that mark since the winter season ended.
Bruce Carlson will present Dartmouth's biggest long distance threat, but his 14:10 in the three-mile looms small against Ric Rojas's 13:30 at Saturday's Penn Relays.
Sprinters Optimistic
But there is optimism today in the Dartmouth sprinters' camp. Richard Berryman, a 9.9 sprinter, waits anxiously for a confrontation with Harvard's number-one dash man Alan Boyer, winner of his race against Yale last Wednesday.
Quarter-miler Ken Norman will also be anticipating a challenge against Nick Leone, Harvard's first-string at that distance. Norman hit 49.2 this season in the 440, a time which Leone came within a half-second of topping, even in last week's rainsoaked heat against the Elis.
Weinbel sent all three of his relay teams to Penn, so it appears that Stowell might have to do some juggling to keep pace with the Hanover baton men. The Dartmouth coach has a 440 outfit which is capable of hitting 42.5 in the quarter. However, the squad failed to place at the Philadelphia relays.
If the meet should happen to go down to the mile relay wire, the local thinclads will have to contend with a relay team which has hit 3:18 and placed fifth in the Heptagonal division at the Penn Carnival. The Crimson, yet to have a serious challenge in the mile relay, could experience a tough race in the closing event. But if all goes as planned for Harvard, the Crimson should find itself with a 3-0 record against Ivy competitors.
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