SYRACUSE SLATED TO WIN CROSS-COUNTRY TITLE

Syracuse is picked to win the annual Intercollegiate cross-country meet over the Van Cortland course in New York City this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Penn State, Columbia, and Yale are strong contenders. Harvard, chiefly on account of the recent defeat by Yale, ranks fifth. But the fighting spirit caused by that defeat as well as the knowledge of Crimson strength displayed in previous meets, should arouse a little thoughtful attention by the Crimson's more favored opponents. Although fighting spirit is a less important factor in winning cross-country races than football games, that spirit possessed by the University harriers will certainly prevent a repetition of five University runners finishing, as in the triangular meet, with a two-minute interval between the first and fifth men, when normally the Interval is only 40 seconds.

Syracuse Seems Sure Winner

The possibility of taking first place from Syracuse is remote. Four of the Syracusans who were largely responsible for her 1923 victory are again entered today. Furthermore, Syracuse's fifth man will be of no inferior powers, for last year Syracuse had no difficulty in filling in the gaps of her 1922 nucleus, which remained from her first championship team. Coach Farrell picks Penn State as second only to Syracuse.

The University harriers are probably superior to both Columbia and Yale. The former in the Dartmouth-Columbia-Cornell-Pennsylvania meet succumbed by 11 points to Dartmouth, whose decisive defeat by the Crimson is well remembered. As for Yale, there is little doubt that if the Crimson squad had finished in the customary time period of 40 seconds, the Elis would not have been victorious ten days ago.

After seeing the football game in the Yale Bowl Saturday, the entire squad, consisting of Captain Chapin, Cutcheon, Harrison, Perkins, Ryan, Swede, Tibbetts, and alternate Gordon, Coaches Farrell, O'Connell, and Mikkola, Manager J. K. Collins '25, Assistant Manager E. W. Marshall '26, and the rubber, boarded the train for New York, where they are staying at the Vanderbilt Hotel. Yesterday afternoon runners and coaches walked over the Van Cortland course, which in general contour is very similar to the Charles River course.