Hot Friars Burn Crimson, Minutemen

It was a good day for the Irish. Providence College's hot cross-country trio of Irishmen--O'Shea, Tracy and Redmond--put together strong races yesterday at Franklin Park as the Friars burned the University of Massachusetts and Harvard.

The Minutemen, formerly rated as the top team in New England, took the individual first in the meet, as Randy Thomas crossed the line ahead of O'Shea. But Providence's depth proved too much for UMass, as the Friars finished second, third, sixth, seventh and ninth for a low point total of 27. The Minutemen totaled 35 points.

Harvard, meanwhile, had a tough time of it, racking up 68 points. The first Crimson runner to cross the line was captain Jim Keefe, in eighth place. Keefe started off well, keeping up with the pace right up to the final hill on the course, where he broke away from Northeastern in the opening meet.

Reverse

"But this time things worked in reverse," coach Bill McCurdy commented after the meet. "I suspect he got a stitch at that point because his time until then was faster than last week's." Keefe finished at 24:30, 15 seconds off his opening meet time.

Bill Muller, Bill Okerman and Jeff Campbell were also up near the top in early going. But Campbell fell back by the third mile and eventually finished 25th. "The pace was hot," McCurdy said, "and was too much for him. He just ran out of gas."

Muller dropped out in the middle of the course to wind up 16th in the scoring, while Okerman crossed the line 13th. Harvard's other scorers were freshman Stein Rafto from Hawaii, who "managed to survive a cold New England day" according to McCurdy, to take a 12th, and Brian Dunn who was 19th in the scoring but 23rd overall.

"Everyone ran harder in the early stages," McCurdy said. "It was good for them to get a taste of what it means to run against top competition. Everyone ran a better race at some stage or another in the meet."

Friars on Top

Yesterday's results should put the Friars at the top of the regional polls, while UMass drops back into second. Harvard, which went into the meet ranked third, will probably fall back to sixth or seventh. "But by the end of the season," McCurdy concluded, "we'll advance back up the ladder."