Cross Country

Already hard at work on the Memorial Field track and the many trails that circle Hanover is Coach Ellie Noyes' cross-country squad. The cancellation of the opening dual meet with Holy Cross on Sept. 26, because of the shift in site for the Dartmouth-Holy Cross football game on the same date, gives the Big Green harriers an extra week of practice which is badly needed. The current Dartmouth aggregation must in all fairness be rated as only mediocre.

The 1953 captain Mike Morrissey, far and away the best distance runner on the team, will be lost for the season because of recurrent mononucleosis. This leaves only four returning lettermen Walt Clarkson '54, and Richard Hogarty, Ted Storrs and Paul Merriken, all '55's —as the team nucleus. Mark Starr '55 is a reserve runner who should make the varsity this season, while the sophomore group consists of Tom Riker, Phil Langtry, Pete Downs, Duane Johnstone and Sam Hull.

Coach Ellie Noyes is none too enthusiastic about the prospects for the coming season terming them "at best fair," and adding, "I've already purchased my book of alibis."

With only three dual meets, the Big Green has a fair chance of winning two of these. The competition with Boston University on Oct. 3 should be very close, while the Oct. 23 meet with Harvard is hard to rate. These two Dartmouth could win, but the Oct. 10 meet with the West Point Cadets must be conceded at the outset. The Army team is the defending Heptagonal Champions and individually they have some of the top runners in the East. The Heptagonals on Nov. 6 and the IC4A meet on Nov. 16 are both out of the question for the present Dartmouth team although one or two members might squeeze out a place.