Varsity Cross-Country Team Defeats UMass, 21-45, with Depth, Strategy

Winning a cross-country meet depends as much on strategy as on running ability or conditioning.

This was more than illustrated yesterday afternoon at Franklin Park when a Crimson varsity with only two formal practice sessions behind it outran and outplaced a strong University of Massachusetts team, 21 to 45. In cross country, low score wins.

Coach Bill McCurdy's harriers used their familiarity with the course and a fine sense of placing in the season's opening meet to defeat the runners from Amherst, who had handily beaten a creditable Dartmouth team, 25 to 30, the week before.

Aside from the convincing fashion in which the Crimson placed nine men among the top 12, the most pleasing part of the afternoon was the fine showing of three members of last year's freshman team.

Former Yardling Captain Peter Reider finished four seconds behind UMass ace Bob Horn, who won in 20:23. And sophomores Dave Norris and Ralph Perry placed seventh and eighth, respectively.

This was as much a surprise to McCurdy as the opposition for the varsity coach--in his fourth year as grand strategist--had figured on using his veteran runners to break up the one-two punch of Horn and Bill Lepkowski, UMass' second best runner, who eventually placed sixth in 21:20.

As it was, senior Ken Wilson finished third in 20:37, Captain Don French fourth in 20:50, and little Dave McLean fifth, in 21:02. Then came Lepkowski, followed closely by Norris and McLean.

Crimson juniors Phil Williams and dick Wharton circled the 4.2 mile, up and down course in 21:45 and 21:48, respectively. Wharton, who entered the meet with a sick toe, led for the first mile, eventually placing tenth. Bob Holmes trailed the third Redman finisher, Tom Flynn, by one second to earn 12th.

Despite a recent illness and insufficient practice, experienced varsity runner Al Wills turned in the creditable time of 22:33. He finished 18th out of 25 runners.

The freshman team defeated the UMass harriers, 23 to 36. Like the varsity, they lost first place, but took nine of the first 13 positions. Four seconds behind the UMass winner Erik Dahle came Jim Schlaeppe in 14:59. He was followed by Bill Thompson in 15:06, and Dick Benjamin, who paced the 21 freshman runners for more than half of the three mile race.

McCurdy Runs

Yardling Al Gordon crossed the finish line one second behind Redman Don Madara in 15:29. The next four finalists were Crimson harriers.

The races were run on a one-third macadam, two-thirds grass course which encircles the Franklin Park golf course. Several times during the meet McCurdy would hurry across the green to strategic points, where he advised his charges of their position, urging some on, and advising others to hold their places.

A truck precedes the harriers around the tricky layout. It acts as a sort of beacon to those who might stray of on a wrong bridge or road. No one got lost yesterday, but such occurrences are not unheard of.

Harriers who did not compete yesterday ran in time-trials.