Beaten Freshman Runners May Be Yard's Best Team

The only freshman team to suffer a defeat thus far may well be the best of the lot. That team is Ed Meehan's squad of cross-country runners, 28-29 losers to Brown in a meet in Providence last Friday.

What makes them so good? For one thing, they chalked up two stunning victories before the loss at Brown, sweeping the first six places in a meet with the University of Massachusetts and the first eight against strong Providence College.

For another thing, the Brown team that squirmed by the Yardlings by a skimpy point had taken the first 10 places against the Yale freshmen the week before. So the Crimson's score against the Baby Bruins bodes well for meets to come.

After the Brown contest, Coach Meehan said he was very pleased with the way his team performed and then faded into the inevitable, anxious explanation of how the narrowest of defeats could have gone the other way.

Both teams went out fast on the 2,8-mile course, but by the two-mile mark, a Brown trio of Bob Busick, George Bowman, and Chip Ennis and a lone Harvard pretender, Steve Marx, settled at the front of the pack.

Then Marx started to fade--and with him Harvard's hopes, until the Crimson's Bob Stempson made his stretch move. In the last 150 yards Stempson swept by Bowman and Ennis, crossing the line 10 yards behind Busick, and Harvard was back in the race.

Harvard runners Bill Burns, Bill Wilson, and Jim Baker, the forgotten middle-men, swept fifth, sixth, and seventh places, to leave the decision in the hands of the eighth-place finisher.

Marx had faded out of contention, but Howie Foss got up a head of steam in the last 100 yards to close fast on Brown's Bob Taylor. But the charge was a little belated and ended with Foss still gaining ground at the finish but five yards behind the Bruin runner.

With three meets already in the record books, you still can't find a Wait Hewlett on this freshman team (i.e. a guy who has already caught his breath when the next fastest runners plod across the finish line). But the team standout so far is undoubtedly Stempson.

In addition to finishing first for the Crimson against Brown. Stempson led tight bunches of Harvard runners across the finish in both the UMass and Providence meets. That leaves his record at two first and one scored. Other Scores: SOCCER HARVARD 5  Tufts FOOTBALL HARVARD 25  Tufts