Evening star., 1942-03-09
Mile Race Given
Featured Spot
In {. u. Meet
Dodds and Kane Down
For Brilliant Duel;
Relays Snoppy
By LEWIS F. ATCHISON.


Chief interest in the Catholic
University games apparently had
shifted from the ~ mile special
to the Killion Mile as the first batch
of athletes peeled OF their sweat
shirts and made ready for trial
heats this afternoon at Riverside
Stadium. The evening program will
get underway promptly at 7;30.
Greg Rice. world champion dis
tance runner and undisputed king
of the reuters, will face a handicap
field in an attempt to lower the
existing 21a mile figure in what was
to have been the feature attrac-
ton of the meet. But competition
between the mighty little Notre
Dame alumnus and the clock is
not expected to generate as much
interest as the mile duel between
Gilbert Dodds, recent conquerer of
Leslie MacMitchell, and Campbell
Kane, Indiana's Big Ten champion.
Kane is an eleventh-hour addition
to the field and mighty welcome,
too.
Dodds. the minister's son who was
beaten twice by Rice over the 2
mile route earlier In the season
before dropping Unexpectedly into
the mile and running the legs OF
MacMitchell in what the experts
choose to regard as only q mild
upset, apparently intends to stick
to the shorter distance for the re-
mainder of the year-and possibly
his career. His coach Is Lloyd
Hahn, an old miller who played
caboose to Joe Ray when the Chi
cago cab jockey was at the height
of his career two decades ago.
Hahn. it develops. has had his keen
eye on the mile laurels for some
time and ran his pupil in the longer
races only to build up stamina.
Down for Return Race.
Dodds is scheduled to meet Mac
Mitchell in a return race later this
week at New York and 1t Is not
difficult to understand why Hahn
would not want him to 60 711z miles
against Rice tonight and then have
to readjust himself to the lesser
distance within six days. This is
the important reason for the change
in program, although Dorsey Grif-
fifth, director Of the games, said nu-
merous fans would prefer to *see
Dodds run a good. fast mile rather
than watch him take another lacinS
from Rice
Kane, who has . victory over
John Borican this winter to his
credit, carried OF the Big Ten mile
and half-mile crowns last Saturday
at Chicago, going the longer dis
tance in Ala. That would put him
almost six seconds behind Dodds.
who was a fraction over 4:08 in out
hoof1ng MacMitchell But there Is
another angle to consider tonight,
which quite possibly will tend to
equalize matters and inject a fresh
element Of competition into the race.
That is the fact that the boys will
run in flats, or spikeless shoes. While
the time naturally will not be as
fast as could be expected with spikes,
it should be fast race, keenly con-
tested, with the smartest runner
winning.
Relay Teams Well Matched.
District track addicts shuld get
their fill of relay racing tonight.
and, If it is the sheer pleasure of
witnessing well matched fields,
rather than the desire to see q
name" runner. they will not be
disappointed. The Rector's 1000
and Abbey Club so, annual fixtures,
have attracted representative fields.
The shotput group is one of the best
ever assembled under one roof in
any meet, featuring q couple of
tons of star football huskies. The
list includes champion AL Blozis of
Georgetown, Nays modern Goliath,
Gene Flathmann: Dukes all-Amer-
ican gridman, Steve Each; Mary
lands Heckert Horn and Penn's Ed
Beetem. Not to be overlooked are
Joe Griffin of Richmond and Art
Lemke, Blozis' teammate, although
these 6-footers are comparative
pygmies in this company.
Prize relay package of the pro-
gram, perhaps, is the final event
pairing Seton Hall with Villanova.
The Seton combination is the same
that busted q 2-mile mark of II
years. standing in the National A.
A. U. games two Saturdays ago,
while Villanova is one of two teams
that finished ahead of Georgetown's
previously unbeaten combination in
the I.C.4-A. games last week.
The usual swarm Of high and
prep school talent will pad out the
lists.