Runners Could Prove 'Best Yet'

Cross-country at Harvard, according to Coach Bill McCurdy, is usually two or three guys who love the sport and 15 more who jog along just to prepare for the more glamorous track season later on.

And this composition makes Coach McCurdy very sad. He moans the loudest when he recalls the Heptagonals two years ago when three Crimson runners finished first, fourth, and sixth, but the team lost the meet when the next two Harvard men showed up 32nd and 43rd.

But McCurdy's face brightens when he looks at his 1964 roster. "We have more depth than we've had in four or five years," one of Harvard's greatest pessimists beams. "This squad could be the best yet."

Since McCurdy-coached teams have lost just two meets in the past two years, the best yet means undefeated.

If McCurdy's right, a fellow who's bound to get a lot of credit is junior Walt Hewlett. Hewlett was an All-America selection last fall, and his performance in Saturday's sweep of the University of Massachusetts squad indicates that he plans to keep those credentials.

Hewlett covered the 4.6-mile Franklin Park course in 23:32, almost a minute faster than second-place Bill Crain, and, in McCurdy's words, "Walt looks good."

And Crain, the team captain, is definitely no slouch. The chunky senior, one of McCurdy's big three for the past two years, is a deceptive plodder with the creditable habit of finishing consistently near the front of the pack.

"Crain and Hewlett are our best ones," McCurdy says. "Their only instructions will be to finish first and second."

Backing up these two are senior John Ogden, junior Dave Allen, sophomore Jim Smith, and senior Roy Cobb.

Ogden and Allen both made some good showings during the 1963 season and were pressing Crain in Saturday's meet against the Redmen.

Smith, the biggest find from last year's freshman team, is heralded by some as another Ed Meehan, team captain in 1963 and the only real graduation loss.

Smith's seventh-place finish against Massachusetts was a slight disappointment, but McCurdy is confident his sophomore has better days ahead.

More than offsetting that disappointment was the fine fifth-place finish by senior Cobb. Cobb has been on the roster since his sophomore year but has shown so little in competition that he wasn't even invited to pre-season training camp this summer.

Despite the snub, the plucky Cobb announced to McCurdy that he planned to run this fall. Run he did against UMass.

Whether this Crimson sextet can live up to McCurdy's prediction for the season should be known in two weeks. Harvard meets Providence College in Franklin Park Friday and visits Ivy League power Brown October 9.

Providence succumbed 24-32 to the Crimson last year but is bolstered this fall by several additions from a freshman team that smothered last year's Yardlings.