Cornell Runners' Excellent Showing

In their defeat yesterday by the Oxford-Cambridge runners the Cornell cross-country team has the satisfaction of knowing that it has been defeated only by the narrowest of margins by its English rivals. The score--26-29--shows how narrow was the victor's margin. The outcome of the race was, indeed, in doubt until the last two or three of the runners breasted the tape. The British runners were favored to win in most of the predictions of experts. There were many reasons for this. In the first place, they were members, of a picked team from Great Britain's two most ancient and best-known universities, selected to compete against Cornell's best. Cross-country and distance running, moreover, is par excellence the Englishman's specialty. We excel in the dashes, hurdles and field events--contests in which a high degree of nervous energy is required for a short period of time. The Britisher, on the other hand, has usually excelled in events which require stamina, endurance and long training. Of such events cross-country running is a typical example. The Oxford and Cambridge harriers had a further advantage in being familiar with the Rochampton course, which is the course over which are customarily held the cross-country contests between the two universities.

The performances of the Cornell runners is therefore highly creditable to American athletic traditions. It was a bold thing to do, to invade the British lion in his lair and meet him in one of his favorite specialties. Cornell lost, but its runners did better than could those of any other American university. And they very nearly won. Perhaps they will next time. --Boston Transcript.