Harvard Runners Win in Big 3 Meet

PRINCETON. N. J. Nov. 1--Yale senior Frank Shorter shocked the Harvard cross country team and its bearded stars with a record-smashing performance, but the undefeated Crimson harriers had enough depth for their sixth straight Big Three championship here today.

Shorter forced the pace from the start, beating off successive challenges from Keith Colburn, previously undefeated Roy Shaw and captain Doug Hardin. Hardin and Shorter battled step for step over the last three miles of the five-mile course, until the Yale pulled away several hundred yards from the finish.

After Hardin in second place, the all-winning Harvards took fourth, fifth seventh, tenth, 11th and 12th places for a triangular meet score of Harvard 28, Princeton 50 and Yale 54 and dual meet scores of Harvard 22, Princeton 37; Harvard 21, Yale 40; and Princeton 28, Yale 29.

It was an easy win for Harvard, as expected, but Coach Bill McCurdy was not as happy as one would have expected. This was the first time that Harvard has had to cope with a pace other than its own--that is, in each of the earlier meets, either Shaw or Hardin had dominated the race and the team had hung close together.

But today, Shorter passed the first mile in a reported 4:22 and in the process spread out the field. Colburn held on for a short time, but eventually fell back into stride and would up 12th.

The junior Shaw, who vowed at the beginning of the year that he wouldn't shave his heard until he lost, ran a steady race near the head of the pack. Complaining of stomach cramps, however, he had to struggle at the end to hold seventh place ahead of two Yale men, Tom Yunick and Steve Bittner.

By far the most pleasant surprises were sophomore Dave Pottetti and senior Tim McLoone. Pottetti took Greater Boston honors Tuesday and bounced back strongly again today in fourth place behind Shorter. Hardin, and Princeton's Eamon Downey just ahead of McLoone. All five men bettered the old course record held by Georgetown's George Wisniewski, Shorter smashing the mark by 53.8 seconds.

Rounding out the Harvard team were Tom Spengler, John Enscoe, John Heyburn, Erik Roth, Howie Foye, Peter Dennehy, and Max Schweizer. Dennehy ran a good race although hobbled by a knee injury.

Harvard has three races left. Friday, the harriers meet the other seven Ivies and Army and Navy in the Heptagonals in New York. Ten days after that are the IC4A championships and then, after another week, the national collegiate championships, both these races also in New York.