Columbia and Penn should combine to become the varsity cross country team's seventeenth consecutive victory this afternoon when the three teams meet on New York's Van Cortlandt Park course at 3:30. However, the Lion is expected to exhibit a good deal of fight before capitulating.

Main hope for the host Columbia team is its Cuban-born sophomore sensation, Jose Iglesias, who breaks records as consistently as other good runners win races. So far this season, Iglesias has bettered the Dartmouth course record and the Columbia record for the Van Cortlandt course while winning all three Lion meets.

But behind Iglesias is a woefully weak team which has beaten Dartmouth, while losing to Yale in a triangular meet, beaten NYU, and lost to Fordham in dual meets. The only other real threat in the Light Blue lineup is number two man Stan Abramowitz whose time in the NYU meet was nearly two minutes slower than Iglesias' record mark.

Pennsylvania, according to Crimson coach Bill McCurdy, is an unknown quantity. Jim Smith leads a veteran team which finished second in last year's triangular meet, 24 points behind the victorious Crimson. It has apparently not been too well bostered by members of last year's freshman squad, a team which finished a distant third in the triangular freshman race.

Crimson Depth

As the meet shapes up, Columbia must hope for first and second places, a doubtful proposition with the return of the Crimson's aces Pete Reider and Dave Norris to form. The varsity has the depth of the three teams, and this depth should provide the margin of victory although the course is five miles long, eight-tenths of a mile longer than the varsity's home Franklin Park course.

Completing the varsity lineup will be Captain Dave McLean, seniors Dick Wharton, Bob Holmes, John Read, and Bill Morris; junior Ralph Perry; and sophomores Bill Thompson, Mac Brown, Jim Schlaeppi, and Lary Lavers.

At 3 p.m., the undefeated freshmen will meet the Columbia and Penn freshmen over the shorter three-mile freshman course. Captain-elect Ed Martin will be shooting for his fourth consecutive victory, as will the Yardlings.

Wes Hildreth will be seeking his fourth consecutive second-place finish. Gary Brooten, Dane Oliver, Dave Call, Dave Donaldson, Dave Fillman, Dick Millett, Bob Cabot, Henry Marcy, and two from among Steve Clapp, Jim Lorenz, Pat Liles, Ed Sherman, and Wharton Sinkler will round out the Yardling lineup.