Cross Country Squad Survives Bleak Year With Hope for 1960

"It wasn't a losing season, but it might as well have been." Thus coach Bill McCurdy evaluated the 1959 cross country campaign, the worst in his long and successful reign. In dual and triangular meets, the varsity had a seemingly respectable 4-3 record, but the Crimson actually won only when a loss was inconceivable.

Three of the squad's victories--over B.U. and Providence, over UMass., and over Princeton--were singularly unimpressive. The Crimson defeated the Friars in its opening meet, 26 to 38, mainly because Providence lacked depth. B.U., with 74 points, was never in the battle, fielding only one top-level performer, Art Freeman.

The triumph against UMass was convincing, but it was obvious that the Redmen had been highly overrated. Running without its ace, Jed Fitzgerald, the Crimson romped to a 19-40 win.

Only an archaic scoring quibble gave the varsity its victory over Princeton in a three-way meet with the Tigers and Yale. By triangular scoring, the Crimson finished third, with 48 points, against Princeton's 47 and Yale's 26. Traditionally, though, the contest is scored as three dual meets, although none of the conditions of a two-team clash prevails. In its head-to-head encounter with the Tigers, the Crimson could claim a 27-28 win.

Comebacks Follow Brown Loss

A comeback decision over Penn and Columbia, following a crushing 18-51 loss to Brown, was fairly impressive, however. Competing against Penn's Ernest Tracy and Roy Rissinger, two of the East's better runners, the varsity rose to the occasion and whipped the Quakers, 23 to 43. Columbia trailed with 74. Fitzgerald, after coming in 13th against the Bruins, rallied for a fine second-place showing and almost caught Tracy with a stirring last-mile charge.

There were some crushing defeats. The 18-51 barrage leveled by Brown is the worst defeat McCurdy can remember. The Bruins, led by Bob Lowe, ran wild against the Crimson, who just managed to tie Cornell for last place. Later, in the fall's climactic encounter, Yale outscored the varsity, 26 to 48 by three-way scoring.

Ironically, one of the team's really fine efforts of the year came in defeat. In wet, miserable weather at Hanover, the Crimsan staged a rally that almost caught the favored Dartmouth squad. Fitzgerald, running on a severely injured leg, took second behind the Big Green's Tom Laris. However, this performance finished him for the season with an inflamed Achilles tendon.

Crimson Trails in Heptagonals

The annual Heptagonal Games in New York were tragic. Depived of Fitzgerald and Jack Benjamin, who incurred what seemed to be stress fractures, the Crimson placed no one higher than 20th.

Fitzgerald will lead the returnees in 1960. Before his injury, he had become the balance wheel of the squad, and he will be a fine captain next fall. Mark Mullin, who became something of a leader in Fitzgerald's absence, and freshman Ed Hamlin, the only bright light in a dismal Yardling season, will complete next year's big three.