COLLEGIATE 

 ATHLETICS 



Did you ever try picking winners ? 



It's hazardous work, but mighty fascin- 

 ating. Once you start, you can't stop. It's 

 worse than gambling. You've got to pick 

 'em every race that starts and, right or 

 wrong, you keep on picking 'em. 



I caught the fever ten or fifteen years 

 ago and have had it ever since. One year 

 in the Mott Haven championships, I picked, 

 a week before the games, forty-two men to 

 finish one, two, three (there were fourteen 

 events then, and fourth didn't count). Forty 

 of those men were placed. There were three 

 reversals, and the points came out correct 

 within four. These Yale took from Penn, 

 and, as Mike Murphy was coaching Yale, 

 this was to be expected. That's the best 

 I ever did, and so good, that no failure 

 could discourage me now. 



You'll forgive the personal pronoun, I 

 hope, — if I promise not to offend again, — 

 when I say that I only use it to explain 

 why I am going to pick 'em now. 



It's an almost hopeless task to try to pick 

 winners for the Penn Relay Carnival. It's 

 quite the biggest event of the year, in one 

 sense, and, considering the caliber of the 

 contestants, deserves all the attention and 

 interest it arouses. The difficulty of pre- 

 dicting results can be appreciated when con- 

 ditions are considered. 



First : it's a month off, as I write, and much 

 can happen in a month to upset calculations. 

 Second : any of the teams or individuals are 

 liable to be off their form at the early date, 

 and many undoubtedly will be. Third : there 

 will be uncertainty until the day of the 

 races as to the starters, as teams are en- 

 tered and withdrawn at the last minute. 

 Fourth: with no outdoor practice whatever 

 to date and no competitions it is impossible 

 to tell what dark horses may develop. 



All this makes prognostication difficult, 

 but it doesn't make it less interesting. 



THEREFORE : 



This is safe : Records will go. With 

 favorable conditions, new figures should be 

 made in every championship. Two teams in 

 the mile can break 'records. One, maybe 

 two, can do so in the two mile. One cer- 

 tainly can in the four mile. 



The winners : One-mile, Chicago ; two- 

 mile, Yale ; four-mile, Michigan. 



A decided Western tinge, but warranted 

 by results in the past. The doubtful one is 

 Chicago, depending on Pennsylvania's con- 

 dition. Penn in form could probably win. 

 She may be in form, but it's improbable. 

 Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Columbia, and 

 Wisconsin are expected to compete, but none 

 should beat Stagg's team. 



Chicago has eight men better than 52. 

 She could run two teams close to record. 

 The quartette to be selected depends on 

 whether or not Blair and Hogenson run the 

 hundred. If they don't, both will do better 

 than 51, while Gorman is good for 50. 

 Lightbody, the Olympic distance champion, 

 will do 51, and Taylor, Eckersall, Quigley 

 and Barker can all shade 52. If a better 

 quartette than 3.22 is not gotten out, we 

 miss our mark. 



Penn's team can do 3.21. Taylor is good 

 for 49, Flyman 50, and Green and Shaw 52, 

 in form. But Taylor has been ill and has 

 just started training. Green has been out of 

 the hospital, where he was operated on for 

 an abscessed thigh, a very short time. It 

 is unlikely that these men can be in shape 

 so soon. Still they'll make a good fight. 



Yale and Harvard will have fast teams 

 and so will Columbia. 



yale's phenomenal quartette. 



Yale in the two-mile hasn't a rival in her 

 class. The time made at Buffalo by her team 

 is marvelous,— 7.58, indoors. Outdoors it 

 must be bettered. Parsons is wonderful; 

 Hill scarcely less so, and Burnap and Cates 

 above the average. 



Cornell has a fast team. Against any 

 other opponent she would win. Rogers, 

 Munson, Overman and Poate can do close to 

 8 minutes. Princeton expects to make a 

 strong bid. Michigan hopes to, and Colum- 

 bia thinks she has a good chance. 



The four-mile has twice been won by 

 Michigan. With three old men back, Waite, 

 Doane, and Stone, and a better man to re- 

 place Kellogg, her old star, it looks like 

 three times, sure. Coe has done 4.29 in- 

 doors. Rowe has done 4.32, and they have 

 a third man good for 4.34 who will not get 

 a show. 



Cornell is strong in the four-mile, but in 

 the same position as is Pennsylvania in the 

 mile. An injury to Magoffin, and New- 



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