Coach Bill McCurdy yesterday said he was enthusiastic about his varsity and freshman cross country squads which have been working out officially since Monday.

The varsity has a total of 17 candidates for the 12 starting positions. The nucleus of the team will be the Big Four junior lettermen, Captain Emil San Soucie, Hal Gerry, Hubie Maguire, and Bruce Phillips. Of the remainder, several sophomores and one senior, Bob Swett, seem to be McCurdy's top prospects for scoring positions at the moment.

The informal University Handicaps cross country meet starts at 4:30 p.m. Monday in front of the Newell Boat House. Any members of the University may enter with handicaps of up to five minutes for the three mile course. Entrants should contact by note Bob Wolfe, cross country manager, at the H.A.A. office. Post entries will also be accepted.

The freshman squad is wide open for positions since many of the 20 candidates are inexperienced.