Record-Holder Trey Burns Looks for Upset in IC4As

There won't be too much pressure on Saturday night because no one expects me to win. But if I can hold the pace, I'd like to knock off the top man," said sophomore They Burns Harvard's record-holder in the 1000-yard run the IC4A championships this week in Madison Square Garden in New York, the relatively unheralded Burns will face the toughest competition of his career, including America's premier half-miler and Olympic finalist, Tom Farrell. Farrell has been hampered by a muscle in his left thigh, but even if he scratches, Burns will have to beat at four other runners whose best times winter are faster than the record he at Dartmouth.

Until the meet at Dartmouth a few weeks ago, Burns was having a routine on, with the exception of a time trial man that no one outside of the track team knew about. His winning meet times had been undistinguished, and he had lost only one race, while weak with a cold.

Burns went to Hanover after a week layoff. He usually runs faster when rest and he noted yesterday that "the University record of 2:11.6 was in the back of my mind."

Taking the lead at the gun, Burns set a torrid pace, whippping through the 440 seconds. He continued past the half mark in 1:54.5, about three seconds faster than his normal 1000 pace.

He recalled that at this point he "felt strong and decided to go for the record." Burns sprinted through the tape with "plenty left," a winner by 25 yards and holder of a new record, 2:10.9.

Against Yale and Princeton two weeks Burns outkicked the Tigers' Terry O'Keffe, whome he had never beaten be to win the 1000 in 2:12.2, decent time for a dirt track. Then last week he anchored the two-mile relay team against Brown, on a board surface, which he prefers. He ran his leg in 1:52.9 and helped the team to break the old Harvard mark by over seven seconds.

He ran a solo half-mile time trial as a freshman in 1:53.7, and won most of his 880 races outdoors averaging a respectable 1:56. But in an AAU meet in Baltimore last June, he finished second to Villanova's Dave Patrick in 1:52.4, about a second faster than anyone on the Crimson had run all spring.

This fall, during the cross-country season, Burns had a hard time getting into shape and sprained his ankle at the end of the season. After Christmas, though, he ran a solo 880 in 1:52.7 on the boards above the Carey cage dirt track. After that a record seemed possible.