Crimson Harriers Capture Big Three Championship

The Harvard cross country team streaked to the Big Three Championship yesterday, overpowering Yale, 17-44, and outlasting Princeton, 24-31, in a meet at Franklin Park.

Paced by the winning performance of Crimson captain, Ric Rojas and the surprising run of freshman Jeff Campbell, the Harvard harriers beat the Tigers in what coach Bill McCurdy called "certainly the closest meet all year."

Reshuffling

"It seemed like the order of finish was Harvard, Princeton, Harvard, Princeton, Harvard, Princeton, Harvard, Princeton." McCurdy said, "If there had been even a little reshuffling, this race could have come out a lot different."

Tightly grouped about the three-mile point, the runners split up when Rojas, Princeton ace Ron Vander Kraats and Campbell broke ahead of the rest of the runners to stay.

"What worried me at this point," McCurdy said, "was that there was a whole flock of Princeton runners and our fifth man wasn't to be found. At about the four-mile mark, though, Karl Tsigdinos was up racing their fourth or fifth man, and we were in pretty good shape."

Jostling for Position

Even with only 200 yards to go on the 5.5 mile course, there was still a group of runners jostling for position.

"It was real close, even at the end," McCurdy said. "Rojas was being threatened by Vander Kraats who was being threatened by Campbell who was being threatened by a Princeton man and all the way down the line.

"At four miles, I thought we had won," he continued, "but when I saw all of them so close together, I wasn't sure."

Jim Keefe, Andy Campbell, and Tsigdinos placed as the other three Crimson scorers in a strong team performance.

The first Yale finisher, Don Schlesinger, crossed the finish line a distant eighth to keep the Elis well out of the running.

Sterling Run

The bright spot of the day, the sterling run of Jeff Campbell, was offset, however, when, all-Ivy runner Jeff Brokaw was forced to drop out about a mile into the race with a calf injury. Brokaw had been counted on to provide some of the Crimson's scoring depth in yesterday's race, but it appears that he might also be out of the IC4As to be held in New York Monday.

"Rojas went real well today, considering he hasn't done too much since his cold," McCurdy said. "Ric isn't the type runner to sprint ahead in the last 200 yards so he had to make a tough move around the three mile mark, and he did it."

Stumbling

"Rojas said that every time he tried to go faster, it seemed like he was going to stumble," McCurdy said. "But considering he was only six seconds off his best time on the course this year, I'd say he came back pretty well."

The Crimson junior varsity ran away from the competition in preliminary action yesterday afternoon as George Farrelly, Bill Muller, and Jimmy Hughes crossed the finish line together to power the Harvard team to an easy victory over Princeton and Yale.

The JVs finished the season undefeated