Close Mile, Weight Throw Will Hightlight GBC Meet

Outstanding matchups in the mile and the 35-pound weight throw should be the highlights in the 12th annual Greater Boston Meet Friday and Saturday in Harvard's Bubble.

The Crimson is a heavy favorite to retain the title for the eighth straight time, though Northeastern and Boston College are likely to make the Harvard task more difficult than usual. Every team in the meet, except Harvard, is now able to use-freshmen.

The mile features competition between Bob Ryan of Tufts, Charles Diehl of B.C., John Cherry of B.U., and four Harvard runners-Tom Spengler. John Quirk, Bob Seals, and Jon Enscoe.

At Boston Garden last weekend. Ryan won the Carens Mile, beating Quirk, Diehl, and Spengler, and he is the favorite in the GBC's. But the smoother surface in the Bubble and a partisan crowd make the outcome less predictable. Ryan is likely to take the lead early and try to hold off the others in the final laps.

The top men in the weight throw are Harvard's Ed Nosal and Northeastern's Tom Sirois. Sirois has thrown the weight farther, but when the two competed in a dual meet last month, Nosal won by five inches. Last year, Sirois took the IC4A title, while Nosal was the NCAA victor.

Other potentially exciting races are the 600 and the 1000, both matching runners from Northeastern and Harvard. In the 600 the Crimson's Bob Clayton will battle Tom Whittenhagen, who won the event in January when Clayton was disqualified. In the 1000 Dave Elliott will race N.U.'s Tom Bowman.

But there will probably be a lot of events which won't be so close and should enable Harvard to roll up enough points for the meet victory. In the high jump, high hurdles, and two-mile, for example, the Crimson is definitely favored.

Trials in many events will be Friday evening, with more trials scheduled for early Saturday afternoon before the finals are run, starting at about 1:30 p.m.