Runners Romp Over Penn, Columbia Hewlett And Co. Host Cornell Today

An undermanned Crimson cross-country team humbled Penn and Columbia in New York yesterday, beating each, 21-40, in a triangle meet. The three-team score was Harvard 27, Penn 48, and Columbia 63.

The win, the Crimson's second against two losses, was accomplished without the services of ailing Bill Crain and John Ogden. Captain Crain, suffering from a knee injury, ran under orders to take it easy and wound up 16th. Ogden, who has had a cold, started but dropped out early in the race.

Coach Bill McCurdy said Ogden probably won't run against Cornell in Lincoln Park today but that Crain may be ready to go.

Yesterday's winner, of course, was Walt Hewlett. In his finest Waltesque form, the junior ace went out fast and finished faster, crossing the line 1:10 before second-place Dave Allen.

Behind the Crimson pair came Columbia's Bennett Flax, Penn's Bill Rich and Radclyffe Thompson, and Columbia's Bob Conway.

Trailing these four intruders was a horde of seven Crimson runners, all of whom crossed the finish line before the Quakers or the Lions could place a third man.

By the half-way mark of the five mile race, "the meet was no contest," according to McCurdy.

The freshman meet was even less of a race, with the Yardlings topping Penn, 19-42, and making a perfect 15-50 score against Columbia. Briton Jim Baker took first place, his first win in a Crimson uniform.

The Cornell varsity team that visits Harvard today is a far cry from the Power that beat the Crimson a year ago. Gone are Jim Byard and Steve Machooka, and those returning are hardly enough to take up the slack.

Byard's brother Cory and Jim Straub, brother of Army's track captain of last year, are the best of the 1964 Redmen but they are probably not good enough to stop McCurdy's charges.