Happy Harriers Hobble Opponents in Weekend Meet

Harvard depth overcame muscle injuries, blood blisters, and bee stings Saturday to notch convincing cross country victories over Providence and Massachusetts at Franklin Park.

Junior Royce Shaw hurried to the wire in record time for his second victory in as many outings. Behind Shaw, six of the next ten finishers wore Harvard colors, as the Crimson ran its dual meet winning streak to sixteen.

In typical fashion, Shaw went to the front early. By the mile mark he was joined by captain Doug Hardin, and the two of them held a slight lead over the top U-Mass trio and Providence pacesetter Marty Robb. Moving smoothly in contrasting running styles, Shaw and Hardin gradually cased away to a thirtyyard lead at the three-mile point.

Eight yards back, senior Tim McLoone and sophomore Dave Pottetti were having problems. McLoone, troubled by a strained thigh muscle for several weeks, found it impossible to lift his knee to mount the hills and was forced out of the race.

Pottetti, who picked up a painful blood blister in his strong second place finish against Northeastern Wednesday, had difficulty running smoothly and dropped back to seventh.

Fortunately, their places were ably filled. Sophomore Tom Spengler was far back in the pack for the first mile, but now began moving up through the field. He passed Pottetti in the last mile and was gaining on UMass sophomore Ron Wayne when they reached the finish.

Junior Erik "Elf" Roth was out with the leaders early and survived a midrace slump to remain in good position. Close behind were John Heyburn and Howie Foye. Heyburn has never been sidelined by injury in two years of running, and a wasp sting that swelled his hand painfully did not stop him Saturday.

In the last three hundred yards Hardin gave way to Shaw's kick and settled for second, nine seconds ahead of UMass senior Paul Hoss. Marty Robb of Providence and Ron Wayne of UMass finished before Spengler, Pottetti, Roth, Heyburn and Foye swept five of the next six slots to clinch the meet.

Harvard coach Bill McCurdy expressed post-meet concern over McLoone and Pottetti, but seemed generally pleased that his team had responded to its first real challenge. The continued improvement of juniors Roth and Heyburn and sophomores Spengler, Foye, Max Schweizer and Jon Enscoe was also encouraging.