was not hotly contested to the end. The
O.H.-S. has been the Coast champion for sixteen years past, and if
Cheek, the captain of the team, had entered this year, no doubt the
score would have been very different. Cheek is a promising all-round
athlete. In addition to vaulting and jumping he puts the shot 33 feet,
throws the hammer over 100 feet, runs the 100 in 11 seconds, gets over
the high hurdles in 17-1/2 seconds, and the low hurdles in 28 seconds.
The reason given for his non-entry into these sports is that his team
was so much stronger than that of any of the other schools in the
league, that the O.H.-S. preferred to contest the games without his aid,
and so decide the day by a few points only. This experiment proved a
most risky one. If the B.H.-S. had won the Relay race, they would have
taken the championship by the score of 55 to 48. Such a self-sacrificing
and eminently sporting spirit as Cheek's is something I have not yet
observed in the East. The rules governing the contests of the A.A.L. are
somewhat different from those of other leagues. The team of each school
is limited to seven boys, and six more are allowed to enter for the
Relay race, which counts as an extra event, and gives 10 points to the
winner, 6 points to second, and 2 to third. There is some advantage in
this limitation, but I should think that in many cases it would operate
unjustly. Nevertheless, it is a great preventer of that worst feature of
our Eastern track-athletic games--countless trial heats necessitated by
unlimited and unrestricted entries.

The high hurdles were the occasion for a hot struggle between Dawson,
O.H.-S., and Hoppin, B.H.-S. Dawson had never run the full course
before, and this was only his fifth attempt at clearing the sticks, but
he ran well and breasted the tape in 19-1/2 seconds, with Hoppin at his
heels. In the first heat of the low hurdles Hoppin won in 31-1/2
seconds. Dawson fell at the seventh, but picked himself up quickly and
finished, thus qualifying for the finals, which he won in 31-1/2
seconds, with Hoppin third. Dawson will no doubt improve greatly within
the next year, and I confidently look forward to see him smash some
Coast records. He takes the hurdles without the suggestion of an effort,
and although only 5 feet 5 inches tall, he gets in the seven steps
without any trouble. He trained for the half-mile earlier in the spring,
and so attained good endurance. Another boy with this quality strongly