Cornell Harriers Favored To Win Heptagonal Crown

Cornell with one of the strongest cross-country teams in club league history, is a strong favorite today to capture its second straight Heptagonal Championship when the ten-team field starts on New York's Van Cortiandt Park course. Harvard, Army, and Nary should follow behind the Big Red in that order.

Winners by a decisive margin last fall when almost all of their runners were sophomores, the Ithacans will be aiming for an all-time low point score. Junior Jack Rosenbaum, the midget-sized first man for Cornell, is picked to retain his individual title.

The rest of Cornell's first five consists of Chick Trayford, Paul Loberg, Mike Browne, and Don Farley. Last year when Cornell scored 53 points to Army's 60 and the Crimson's 62, Farley placed seventh and Trayford thirteenth.

This season the Big red has only lost one dual meet, and that to a perennially strong Syracuse team. Included among Cornell's wins was a surprising defeat of Penn state. The Nittany Lions were their in last year's IC4A championships, a meet in which Cornell placed fifth.

Crimson Underdog

For Coach Bill McCurdy and his undefeated Crimson harriers, the task of overhauling L. C. Montgomery's runners scams almost impossible, but McCurdy said last night before leaving for New York, "We're not making the train trip to lose."

On paper, the varsity stands and excellent chance of finishing second, but lacks the speed to overtake the Ithacans. However, it Al Wills, who did not compete last season, or don French, who finished third in the Heps, can beat out Rosenblum and Trayford, the Crimson may surprise and win its first Heptagonal championship since it tied Cornell for first place in 1989.

As he has done all season, McCurdy is banking on depth and not on individual performances. Last year, hall Gerry and French finished two-three, but the next finisher was eighteenth. If the team can place two man like that this year, it might very well win. Besides Wills and Freneh, the Crimson is entering Paul Bock Bill Morris, Dave McLean; Dick Wharton, and Phil Williams. All these runners are sophomores except for Beck, who is a senior. Wills and French are juniors.

Army, also stocked with strong sophomore depth, may also give Cornell trouble. Navy is an unknown quantity, but information from Annapolis leads competing include Doug Brow of Dartmouth and Marty Duckworth of Yale.