ATHLETIC INCONGRUITY

In the wake of the fall sport season arises the anomaly of the system of letter and numeral awards in cross country. Although ten men may run in the annual Yale races, only the first five Crimson jerseys to finish are rewarded for their effort, because only the first five contribute directly to their team's score.

The fallacy of this policy appears with the realization that even the tenth Harvard man finishing has a chance of contributing to his team's victory by beating the fifth Eli, boosting the opponents' total to a losing number of points. Thus cross country is a team sport in which every runner's performance may count although he may not have contributed in the point column.

In every other team sport any Harvard athlete who competes against Yale and whose performance may alter the outcome receives a letter or numerals. Cross country should certainly be brought up to date. An elastic policy should be followed in making awards. In addition to the five point winners any of the Harvard second quintet to beat a member of the first Yale five deserves a letter.