University of Virginia Library

UNC Upsets W & M in Track,
Three Cavaliers Capture Titles

BY DOUG DOUGHTY

illustration

One Of Many Top Point-Getters For The Cavaliers Was Crease Attack Rick Beach (10)

Beach Tallied Three Goals And One Assist Saturday Afternoon As Virginia Beat Roanoke, 21-4

Chilly breezes and a stirring
come-from-behind victory by
North Carolina were the big
stories of Saturday's triangular
meet between UNC, William
and Mary and the Cavaliers at
Lannigan Field.

Streaking to a big lead in
the early events, William and
Mary looked to have the
meet sewn up, as it had been
predicted to do. Nonetheless, a
frantic surge by the Tar Heels,
who took the last three events
including a track record 50′1½″
triple jump by Darrell Kelly,
gave Carolina a 73½ to 71½ to
47 margin.

Five of the first eight events
were captured by the Indians
and they held a favorable lead
over North Carolina, 45-27, at
that time. Still not out of the
ballgame, Virginia clung to
third place with 24 points.

Pacing the early William and
Mary blitzkrieg were Steve
Snyder, who smoked the field in
the steeplechase with a
clocking of 9:30.0. Mark
Mullinax, who won the shot put
by four feet with a toss of
47′6″, and Bob Ducksworth,
who won the 440 in :50.2, not
an exceptional time, but good
enough to win on a day in
which the temperatures dipped
into the forties.

Not without some measure
of success, the Cavaliers did do
fairly well in the early going.
Second after the preliminaries
and trailing after the first
round of final jumps, Keith
Witherspoon jumped just far
enough to edge John West in
the long jump. West leaped
22′11½″ but on his next leap,
Witherspoon went 23′ even to
take the competition.

Kent Merritt, barely
escaping from a football
scrimmage held earlier in the
morning, ran a 9.6 in the 100
and triumphed by a five-yard
margin in doing so. The lone
other Cavalier victor was
hurdler Dave Peyton, who ran
a :57.8 in the 440 yard
intermediate hurdles. This
event was the Cavaliers' best as
they also took third and fourth
places.

Resuming the play-by-play,
William and Mary continued to
look invincible until the fateful
discus throw. From a 16-point
disadvantage, the Tar Heels
pulled within seven points with
a one-two-three performance.

After a slight setback in the
220, Kelly blasted forth for his
triple jump record, Reggie
McAfee, who was scratched in
the mile, broke the track
three-mile mark and the UNC
mile relay quartet captured the
final event. After the smoke
had lifted, Carolina was found
to be a two-point winner.

In recapitulating the meet,
Virginia coach Lou Onesty was
not at all displeased with his
team's showing but did lament
the fact that weather
conditions were so bad for
such a good meet.