Crimson Cross-Country Takes Triangular Meet

A fast-improving varsity cross-country team notched its second straight win yesterday by scoring a clean sweep of the first three places in a triangular meet with Boston University and Providence College. To clinch the victory, the Crimson harriers then placed seven of their runners within the top eleven finishers to register a winning team score of 21 points to 36 for Providence and a gigantic 83 for B.U.

Varsity captain Dyke Benjamin led a winning Crimson triumvirate that included sophomore Jed Fitzgerald and senior Jim Schlaeppi. He covered the five mile course in 25 min. 47 sec. Fitzgerald finished a close second in 25 min. 55 sec., while Schlaeppi's third place time was 26 min. 51 sec.

In leading the varsity to its first victory on the new five mile course at Franklin Park, the combination of Benjamin and Fitzgerald repeated its run-away performance of last week's Cornell meet, by far out-distancing all oppposition well before the half-way mark.

Running entirely by themselves for the last two miles of the race, the two harrier speedsters stayed close together until the final 200 yards when Benjamin put on a finishing kick to cross the tape eight seconds before Fitzgerald. Benjamin's time established a record for the new course and was reckoned comparable to his winning time of last week which was just short of the Cornell record.

The big surprise of the meet for the varsity was the fine performance of Crimson senior Jim Schlaeppi who wrested third place from two Providence runners about 200 yards from the finish. Schlaeppi whose conditioning has been slowed by a case of pneumonia, fought an uphill battle with the two Providence men for most of the race and finally came from behind as they neared the tape.

Willie Thompson followed the two Providence men to finish in sixth place about two minutes behind the leaders, while junior Gary Brooten scored his first varsity points by placing seventh. Buster La France and Dave Donaldson also ran well for the varsity and finished ninth and eleventh respectively.

In the freshman meet the Yardlings were not to be outdone by the varsity as they registered their first win of the season by taking first and second place in a similar triangular meet with the freshman teams from B.U. and Providence. The Yardlings accumulated a team total of 24 points to 55 each for B.U. and Providence. However, the Yardlings actually did the varsity one better by placing seven men in the top ten finishers.