Yale Thinclads Top Big-3, Upsetting Crimson, 52-51

Sparked by a brilliant double victory in the distance races by Frank Shorter, the Yale track team upset Heptagonal champion Harvard by a single point in the Big Three meet Saturday at Princeton.

The Elis combined strength in the sprints and hurdles with some unexpected depth in several field events for a 52-51 margin over the Crimson. Princeton scored a distant 34 points, primarily in the field events.

Shorter and teammate Steve Bittner hung back in the early stages of the mile as Harvard's Royce Shaw set the pace. But both unleashed strong finishing kicks to outdistance the Crimson ace in the last quarter-mile. Shorter edged Bittner at the wire, clocking 4:06.4.

A relatively slow early pace in the two-mile allowed Shorter to stay in contention in his second race of the meet. Harvard's Doug Hardin made his move with a lap to go, opening up a quick six-yard lead, but again Shorter came on strong at the end, edging into the lead five yards from the finish. His meet record time of 8:51.4 also established a new Yale record for the event.

Colburn Blazes

Harvard's outstanding performance came in the 1000 as Keith Colburn blazed away from the field to hang up a new Harvard record of 2:08.6. The slender junior broke his own standard of 2:09.3, set in the Knights of Columbus Meet on January 11.

After grabbing an early lead over Yale on the strength of Dick Benka, Charlie Ajootian, and Ed Nosal in the weight events, Harvard never realized things were going to be close. the surprising crucial points came in the pole vault as Elis Steve Kulenkamp and Russ Green cleared 14 feet for second and third places.

Harvard's Pete Lazarus passed up the lower heights and did not place after missing three times at 14 feet.