Harriers Travel to Providence Today; Expect Win Over Weak Brown Squad

Beating Penn and then running against Brown is something like getting elected President and then running for the state legislature.

On the other hand, it's possible to get elected President and lose the campaign for State Representative. But it's pretty unlikely.

That's the situation the Harvard cross country team faces today as it travels to Providence to face the Bruins.

The Crimson is the clear favorite, and isn't too worried about the meet.

"I am told that at one point Massachusetts had a law prohibiting Rhode Islanders coming into Massachusetts," coach Bill McCurdy historicized yesterday. "After we get through with them down there, they'll wish they had a reciprocal law."

McCurdy said the big problem has been to get the harriers down to earth after their one point victory over the Quakers. "But they certainly earned the right to float around for a while," McCurdy said.

Brown was soundly beaten last week by Yale--not one of the League's stronger squads. John Thomas is the Bruins leading runner, and he finished third behind two Eli contenders. The winning time in the race was fairly good, but it seems unlikely that Thomas will be able to challenge Harvard's top man, Ric Rojas.

Another plus factor for the squad from the East Side is depth: there was a time gap of but 46 seconds between the Bruins top five.

However, since Harvard's top five is stronger than Brown's, running together probably won't do the home town boys much good.

The harriers cause may be hurt a little by the possible absence of captain John Quick, who has come down with a cold, Fred Linsk, who missed the Penn meet, will probably start today but his virus bug has weakened him, and he has missed some important practice.

Also having some body problems is Jimmy Keefe, who continues to suffer ankle troubles.

The rest of the Harvard team appears to be in good shape.

Harvard will be looking beyond today's meet toward the big Cornell match on the 21st. Cornell smashed the harriers last year, and has a 17-meet winning streak going.

Interest will be focused today on evaluation of individual performances. Can Marshall Jones, who proved so strong against Penn, keep going? Can Andy Campbell handle the faster pace on the Brown course? Can Jimmy Hughes keep improving, and can Jimmy Keefs get back into the top group?

The answers to these questions will give the harriers a good indication as in whether or not they can go all the way.

In the meantime, freshmen coach Pappy Hunt's Yardlings (5-0) should have little trouble with the Bruins today.