Baker is Named Harrier Captain

James V. Baker '68, of Lowell House and Northfleet, England, will captain next fall's Harvard cross-country team. Baker, who ran second for the Crimson most of the season, will succeed senior Dave Allen.

In the Heptagonals, Baker finished 11th, completing the five-mile Van Cortlandt Park course in 26:14. In the IC4As, he ran 40th in a strong field. He was second against Dartmouth, third against both Cornell and Columbia-Penn, fourth against Brown, and ninth against Providence. In the triangular meet against Princeton and Yale, he finished third behind Allen and Princeton's Rich Geisel.

As a freshman Baker was heralded as the finest distance runner to ever enter Harvard. He had run a 4:14.9 mile a 9:14 two-mile as an English schoolboy. He captained the freshman cross-country team and led the Crimson pack most of the fall.

Baker also captained the freshman track team and was unbeaten at two miles. He came on strong at the end of the spring to capture a berth as a miler on the Harvard-Yale team. Against Oxford-Cambridge last June 22, Baker surprised everybody by running a 4:12 mile, finishing second to Oxford's Martin Henderson.

Baker is optimistic about the cross-country team's chances next fall. Seven lettermen are returning and he remarked. "We have some strong freshmen and should finish higher in the Heps."

This fall, the Crimson harriers won the Ivy League champonship by finishing third in the Heptagonals in New York, behind Army and Navy.