Track: Working for a Comeback

This has not been a banner year for Bill McCurdy coached teams. In the fall, the cross country squad sputtered to a seventh place finish in the Heps and did not even send a full contingent to the IC4A meet.

The Crimson indoor track squad did not fare much better. The thinclads jumped off to an encouraging start before injuries to key personnel overtook them. Harvard dropped the GBCs and the Big Three meet and enmeshed itself in a five-way logjam for fourthplace in the Heps.

But with the coming of spring, McCurdy has renewed hopes for the final segment of his three-season year, the outdoor track season.

"I'm really pleased with the work we have been doing in the past two weeks," McCurdy said yesterday. "The interim period [between the indoor and outdoor seasons] has been very productive."

But it is going to take more than hard work to transform the 1975 outdoor edition into a powerful track squad, Many of the injuries that hampered the indoor squad are still lingering with top members of the team.

"As awful lot is wrapped up in injuries and comebacks," said McCurdy. "We just don't have enough depth of talent not to be hurt by key injuries.

"We have five number-one men who are still question marks from the indoor season," McCurdy continued. "Larry Schember, Blayne Heckel, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Jim Keefe and Sam Butler are still injuried or are just recovering."

"Schember and Heckel are making good progress and for Keefe it is just a matter of conditioning," McCurdy said, "But Vincent, perhaps the most important of the five, is the most dubious comeback. It all of the question marks are healthy we can present a pretty tough team."

McCurdy has additional reasons for optimism. Two stars from the past, Dick Gilbang and Bill Durette, are returning to the Crimson track scene.

Gilbang, Harvard's premiere discus man of two years ago, is coming off an apparently successful shoulder operation and a one-year leave of absence. Durette, a strong distance runner as a freshman two years ago, is an extremely welcome addition to the distance corps after "a year of meditation and an achilles operation."

"The outdoor season should be the same type of thing as indoors," said McCurdy. The field events will be strong and the running events will be our weakness. So we're working like a son of a gun to develop running support."

"They [the runners] have been getting some good workouts in, but due to the facilities they have been able to work only on conditioning rather than specificity. I really can't say anything about levels of performance," said McCurdy.

The sprints are wide open but Larry Schember should emerge as the number one man if he can overcome a leg injury. Sam Butler will be the primary Crimson hope in the hurdles. He will bejoined by last year's Golden West High School Invitational champion, Gary Schmidt, in the 440 intermediate hurdles.

Joel Peters will be the prime Harvard threat in the 440 and mile relay. He could get some help from ailing John Maggio. Steve Brown will also be a valuable addition if he conquers a leg injury.

The mile and 880 chores will be shared by Bill Okerman, Jim Springate, Jeff Campbell, and Wayne Curtis. All were members of the two mile relay which captured fourth in the indoor heps.

The three mile and steeplechase are primarily the burden of injured cross country captain Jim Keefe. Backing him up are Durette, Bill Muller, and freshman Stein Rafto who blazed a 9:11 two mile earlier this year.

The field events personnel kept the indoor track crew afloat all winter and they will be called upon to perform that same task this spring. Although at present they are lacking their most prolific point scorer, Vanderpool-Wallace they still present a formidable front.

High jumper Mel Embree, the only man to topple world-best Dwight Stones this year, is Harvard's brightest star. He has a brilliant supporting cast in the high jump with the likes of John McCulloh and freshman Dan Sullivan.

The horizontal jumps will be handled by Heckel, Ahmed Kayeli and hopefully Vanderpool-Wallace. Embree may help out in the triple jump.

Blayne Heckel and Don Berg are a potent one-two punch in the pole vault. Both have flown over 15 feet in the past. The throws will be in the capable hands of strongmen Steve Niemi, Dan Jiggetts, Chris Queen, and Gilbang.

The Crimson has been hampered thus far by some of the worst university track facilities in the country. But they will escape the Cambridge gloom when they jaunt down to sunny South Carolina for some hard training and a meet with Baptist College over spring break.

"I'm pleased with our progress so far and with the indoor season," McCurdy said. The essence of "athletic competition is competing to the best one's ability. We sure as hell did that this winter and the team is in a position to do it again. We have a very competitive schedule this spring, but if everyone is healthy we'll be tough.