Undefeated Cross Country Team Faces Penn-Columbia Challenge in New York

Identical 3-0 records will be on the line this afternoon as the Crimson cross country team takes on the highly-touted Pennsylvania squad at Van Cortlandt Park in New York. Columbia is also entered in the three-way meet, but is not considered a factor in the Harvard-Penn showdown.

Head coach Bill McCurdy is anticipating a meet that "really backs us to the wall and forces us to come out winging." Penn will undoubtedly pose more of a threat than Northeastern, Providence, or UMass has in meets to date.

Penn coach Jim Tupenny, a former assistant at Villanova, has undertaken an aggressive program of recruiting over the past two years that has just begun to pay dividends.

Senior Jerry Williams captains Tupeny's crew. Last year Williams hung on doggedly behind Harvard's Jim Baker for three miles before fading back to fourth place. He has already broken the Penn home course record this year and could be ready to mount a challenge for the full five mile curcuit. Junior George Lokken, a third place finisher behind Baker and Doug Hardin in last year's meet, has also eclipsed the Penn record and teams up with Williams to form a potent scoring pair.

Behind them, however, Penn looks a little thin. In the opener against Rutgers, there was nearly a minute gap between Lokken and third man Dan Stevens. Another minute separated Stevens and seniors Bill Caldwell and Bill Kelso.

Even if Williams and Lokken match off with Harvard's dynamic duo of Hardin and Shaw, the Crimson could take the meet by filling these gaps with its depth.

McCurdy is somewhat concerned over the health of his squad. Senior Tim McLoone has been advised to stay off his ailing thigh muscle and will not run today. Hardin, Royce Shaw, John Heyburn, and Max Schweizer have all been troubled with intestinal flu this week. Sophomore Dave Pottetti is still suffering from blood-blistered feet and junior Keith Colburn has been slowed so far with tendon problems. But he may be forced to play in his slot at the front of the pack today. Erik Roth, Tom Spengler, and Howie Foye can be expected to run their usual steady races and could score the deciding points.

In the preliminary, the Harvard freshmen will face a serious threat to their undefeated record. Tupenny's recruits own consecutive victories over Rutgers, Temple, and Lehigh, with six runners bunched closely at the front in each meet.

Harvard frosh aces Mike Koerner and Rick Jurgens are not in peak form, and the Yardlings may have to depend upon their relatively untested backup runners to break up Penn's scorers.