The Crimson thinclads are losing their grip on things. After dropping the GBC crown last week, they continued their losing ways in the Big Three meet at Princeton on Saturday, succumbing to the ferocious Tigers for the first time in six years, 74-56.

Yale helped to take some of the sting out of the Tiger clawing as the Elis managed only 18 points to finish a remote last in the triangular meet.

Harvard was not at full strength, however, because Vincent VanderpoolWallace and co-captain Blayne Heckel were out of action with leg injuries. Their absences were sorely felt by the Crimson, as Princeton notched firsts in the specialties of the two men--the triple jump, long jump, and pole vault.

But the Tigers inflicted the most damage in the Crimson's weakest area, the distance events. In the two mile, Ron Bunnell and John Cabell each clocked 9:00.1 to lead a Princeton quartet to a sweep of the event.

Chuch Norelli paced the Tigers to a 1-2-3 finish in the mile with a time of 4:10.6. Princeton added firsts in the 600 and 1000 to complete its monopoly of the distance events.

Once again Harvard received most of its scoring punch in the field events. Its most productive event was the shot put where Chris Queen heaved the iron sphere 51 feet 5 1/2 inches and Kevin McCafferty and Dan Jiggetts placed second and third.

Jiggetts tossed the 35-pound weight 59 feet 11 1/2 inches for a first place in that event, two feet ahead of teammate Steve Niemi who finished second.

Mel Embree continued his record breaking performances as he leaped six feet 10 1/4 inches to set a new meet record in the high jump. Freshman Dan Sullivan cleared six feet, six inches for a Crimson second place.

Hasan Kayali bounded 47 feet 2 1/2 inches for a second in the triple jump, finishing just three inches short of Princeton's Gary Bates. Embree nabbed third in the event.

Sam Butler was the only Crimson victor on the track. He blasted over the hurdles in 7.7 to nip Bulldog Herm Davis at the tape.

In the other sprint, freshman Larry Schember dashed the 60 in 6.5 for second and Mark Greenberg picked up fourth.

Wayne Curtis blazed the 1000 in 2:13.5 for a Harvard second place and Jeff Campbell followed right behind to finish third. Joel Peters and Gary Schmidt captured a disappointing third and fourth in the 600 behind two rampaging Tigers.

The thinclads will take a 5-2 record to Northeastern this Saturday in their final dual meet of the indoor season. The Crimson hopes to avenge its GBC setback against the Huskies and, even more importantly, it hopes to gather some urgently needed momentum for the Heptagonals March 1.