It's All in the Game

Last Wednesday morning was like any other morning at Harvard's cross country camp in Groton. The 13 runners woke up at 6 a.m., jogged two miles to the golf course, ran a hilly seven miles for time, ran a practice hill ten times, and then struggled the two miles back to camp. But all was not in vain. Each guy received a quart of orange juice as a reward.

The team had been doing this every morning for two weeks, and after the Wednesday workout on the golf course, the countdown for workouts left was three. And the guys had seven hours all to themselves until that afternoon's five miles of speed work.

It was a very encouraging camp even if Jimmy Fair, one of Harvard's three best Irish trainers, wasn't there. He had hurt his thumb in Ireland and delayed his return to Cambridge. The other trainers reportedly weren't too eager to have him go out into the countryside when he finally arrived.

Of the 13, nine are sophomores from last year's best-ever freshman team. Even though they ran a shorter distance as freshman, they have been exceptional in camp. The four most promising sophomores at this point are John Quirk, Marshall Jones. George Barker, and Tom New.

The small upper-class group features Mike Koerner, Bob Seals, Tom Spengler, and Howie Foye. Seals and Koerner, both juniors, are likely to be the team's top performers if they stay healthy. Both came to Groton in good condition and have continued to develop. Seals, however, has had some knee trouble, and Koerner, who broke Dave Pottetti's golf course record at the camp, is now bothered by a foot injury. At the moment, though, neither injury appears to be serious, and on the whole, the team had little trouble with injuries at Groton.

But however encouraging the camp was, Harvard must be ready within five days to face Penn, probably its toughest competition in the Ivy League. A loss Saturday would be the Crimson's first dual meet loss since 1966 and would be a tremendous blow to the team's morale. But it shouldn't happen.