University of Virginia Library

Terps Take Track Title

By Mike DeCamps
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Broad-jumper Jim Shannon and
shot-putter Al Sinesky came up
with outstanding performances
Saturday night at the ACC indoor
championships to lead Virginia to a
sixth place finish for the second
straight year.

The Cavalier squad, battling
against schools known to give a lot
of track scholarships, still managed
a good showing, and were able to
outscore North Carolina State,
which in the past has been one of
the stronger powers in ACC track.

The two outstanding performances
in the field capped the
Cavalier scoring. Shannon, a third year
man, leaped 23′2¾″ to take a
first in his event, establishing
himself as the premier jumper in
the conference. Sinesky, a co captain
of this year's outdoor
squad, added nearly two feet to his
school indoor record in the shot
with a toss of 55′2½, good enough
for second place behind UNC's
John Jessup and ahead of ACC
record holder, John Hanley of
Maryland.

As far as the overall scoring
went, nothing unusual happened.
Maryland took its 16th title in the
17 year history of the conference.
The host team, North Carolina was
second. The powerful Terrapin
team was a little off its usual form
only scoring 76½ points this year.

The Terps did take seven of the
twelve events though. Outstanding
Maryland performers were high jumper
Joe David, miler John
Baker, and two miler Russ Taintor.
David broke his own record in the
high-jump with a leap of 6′10½″.

Taintor and Baker practically
duplicated their performances of
last year. Taintor shaved three tenths
of a second off of his own
two-mile record in 9:00.5. Baker
meanwhile equalled his record in
the mile at 4:07.3.

One of the night's most exciting
races came in the 600 yard run in
which North Carolina's Terry
Sellers came from twenty yards
back to defeat Duke's Tom Dunnigan.
All six finalists were bunched
close together at the finish with
Virginia's Johnny Morris fifth.

The Cavalier squad, having
broken seven school indoor records,
is now preparing to turn to the
outdoor season. Virginia throughout
the winter campaign has shown
strength in the field events, except
for the pole vault. In the running
events Coaches Onesty and Holdren
are expecting a much stronger
distance team, but may find problems
in the sprints. A winning
season is expected, with crucial
meets coming against ACC rivals
Duke and State.