Harriers Disappointing In GBCs

The Harvard men's and women's cross country teams finished a disappointing fifth and fourth, respectively, in yesterday's Greater Boston Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park.

Although neither Harvard coach had any intention of "throwing" the meets, both seemed more concerned with resting the Crimson harriers for this Saturday's important Ivy showdowns with Dartmouth. Both the Crimson's top seven men and women did not participate yesterday.

Boston University's Daryl Simoneau finished first overall, completing the 10 kilometer race in 29:19 to lead the Terriers to the overall team championship. Northeastern took second place, while Brandeis edged Boston College for third.

Mike Bender took top honors for the Crimson men, finishing 22nd in 31:35. John Perkins, Paul O' Learn and David Reese finished 27th, 28th and 29th for Harvard.

Boston University also captured the women's overall championship, led by Marty Shea, who took the women's individual title with a time of 16:43. Boston College finished a close second, while Northeastern shaded Harvard for third. MIT ended up well out of the pack in fifth.

Allison Keller was the leading Harvard runner, taking 18th place with a time of 18:46. Virginia Mayr came in 20th and Patricia deFries 22nd.

Both the men and the women harriers will now begin final preparations for Saturday's most against Ivy League rival Dartmouth. Many consider the Big Green the season's most important meet, but, as women's coach D. Elson Cochran-Fikes says. "This is not necessarily the highlight of the entire season." But if both teams are victorious Saturday, it could mean the top seeding in the Heptagonals at the end of the season.

Both teams have been impressive so far in rolling to undefeated 5-0 records. Each team picked up its fifth victory last weekend against Cornell in Ithaca.