Harriers Heavily Favored In Big Green Tilt Today

The high-flying Harvard cross country team is looking for another win today against Dartmouth, and the harriers shouldn't have much trouble finding it. The meet begins at 3:30 p.m. at Franklin Park.

"Pre-season speculation was that Dartmouth would be one of the strong teams in the Ivy League," coach Bill McCurdy said yesterday. "So far, they've shown flashes of strength, but have not lived up to advance billing."

On the basis of comparison of performances against common opponents, the undefeated Harvard squad comes out ahead. Harvard defeated Northeastern while Dartmouth lost to the Huskies. Both teams best Brown, but Harvard did so more convincingly.

Dartmouth has run some creditable races, however, and does have some strength in senior Tom Shlland and sophomore Gene Peisch. The two runners share the number one spot for the Big Green.

The rest of the top group is a mixture of sophomores and juniors, with freshman Jimmy Walker contributing much. Walker was Dartmouth's top man against Northeastern.

The Crimson's Ric Rojas will be trying to match his performance last Saturday against Cornell. Harvard won the meet, 19-40 Rojas set a new record of 26:06 on the live-and-one-half mile Franklin Park course, beating Tom Spengler's two-year-old record by one second.

Grudge Match

Team captain John Quirk, who ran second against Cornell, has an interesting stake in the meet. He and Dartmouth's Shilling have been rivals since freshman year. Shiland best Quirk last year, but Jimmy the Greek has reportedly placed 2-1 odds on Quirk for today. Harvard won the meet last year, but the lead switched back and forth several times with Marsh Jones's final kick sealing the victory for Harvard.

Health-wise, the Harvard team is in good shape. Quirk, who had been suffering from the flu, has had no relapses and only Jimmy Keefe and Fred Linsk among the harriers' probable top men continue to be somewhat less than up to per.

McCurdy expressed confidence in his squad. "Dartmouth has eschewed the title Indians," he said, "so I suppose that it is only proper that we give them a scalping for old times' sake."

The harriers so far have a lot to be proud of. They've won seven in a row, and with their victory last week over Cornell established themselves as the team to beat in the Ivies.