Princeton Tops Crimson; Captures Big Three Title

Princeton captured the Big Three Cross Country championship for the second straight year by edging Harvard in a triangular meet at New Haven, Conn, yesterday.

Ric Rojas, the Crimson's premier runner, look individual honors but Princeton's balanced team placed five runners in the top ten finishers to grab the Main Memorial Trophy.

As expected, the meet emerged as a hard-fought duel between Princeton and Harvard, with Yale finishing a distant third on the rain-soaked 4.45 mile course. An icy wind which blew steadily at 25 mph kept the temperature down to 36 degrees for the race.

Finishing behind Rojas, 22.27, who led for most of the race, were Drew Mearns 22:36; Bill Good of Princeton, 22.39; and Marsh Jones of Harvard, 22.44. The fifth, sixth and seventh spots were taken by Princeton runners Ron Vander Kreats Andres Rupert, and Bob Bazley. Harvard's Andy Campbell, 22:52, and Bill Durette, 22:54, finished ahead, of Chris Elliot of Princeton, to round out the top ten finishers.

Team captain John Quick. 23:06 finished 12th behind Rojas, Jones, Campbell and Durette.

The defeat was only the Crimson's second of the year and the first in triangular competition. Harvard beat the tigers last week en route-to a tie with Navy in the Heptagonal Championships in New York City.

In dual meet scoring, Princeton beat Harvard 26-29. The Crimson and the Tiger teams soundly defeated Yale by scores of 19-43 and 20-41.

The Crimson Junior Varsity team shut out both Princeton and Yale on the same course in New Haven yesterday. Bill Mueller finished first with a time of 23:45 positions to gain identical dual meet 15-50 triumphs.

The Crimson Harriers travel to New York for the IC4A Championship to wind up the season on Monday.