Harriers Fall to Big Green

Any Bay State sage or schoolchild can tell you that Franklin Park has never made the tourist brochures as a prime viewing spot for fall foliage. But bunches of Green swarmed across the landscape yesterday afternoon during the Harvard-Dartmouth men's cross country meet, as the visitors overwhelmed their Crimson hosts 18-43.

Harvard fans on hand for the race expected to see a lot of Crimson cross their line of vision, as in meets past when the team indulged its habit of outpacing the opposition and leaving dust clouds in its wake.

Team captain Adam Dixon shot out early with a sizzling 4:30 first mile. But Dixon--making his first competitive appearance after nearly three injury-marred weeks--lost out to the tendonitis that has plagued his left knee this season. Despite commanding the early lead, he fell back around the two-mile mark and eventually had to withdraw from the race.

A pack of Dartmouth runners, including one-two finishers Hampton and McEvoy, grabbed the lead and ran a strong race over the crucial middle stages.

Freshman Peter Jelley managed to break into the group for the Crimson around the three-mile mark of the 6.2-mile course. Jelley eventually took third place, crossing the line with a personal best time of 30:43. Harvard's other top finishers were Andy Gerken, who placed seventh, and Eric Schuler, Bruce Weber and Paul McNulty, who finished tenth, 11th and 12th.

Crimson coach Bill McCurdy did not try to excuse his team's less-than-stellar performance. Although the Dartmouth contest was the third meet within a week for the Crimson--coming hot on the heels of a victory over Cornell in Ithaca and a second place finish in the Greater Boston CJhampionships--McCurdy dismissed fatigue as a possible scapegoat. "Our team runs with a lot of emotion," he said, adding that the sight of the Dartmouth pack throughout the race may have been discouraging to his runners.

The fast pace of the first mile may also have placed an extra strain on the Harvard runners. On the other hand, it created just as much of a challenge to the competition. "I think we just have to give Dartmouth credit--they are a strong team and they ran pretty hard," McCurdy conceded.

The harriers have a week to bounce back from their loss before they travel to New Haven for the Big Three meet against Yale and Princeton.