It was a rainy Monday afternoon and cross country coach Bill McCurdy was sitting in his office talking about his freshman team. There was a meet the next day, so no one was working out much. At the other end of the room two managers were busy planning training meals. And near them somebody was listening to the world series game on a portable radio.

"It's potentially a very good team," he said; "maybe as good or better than any we've had in recent years." This indeed was high praise, for included in this span were several teams that went unbeaten.

"But then you never know in this sport. There's always the big question of conditioning; and conflicts with this and that." He mentioned the lack of a good practice course nearby. "We've got to drive to Franklin Park to run on hills," he pointed out.

"The big question is how good they want to be.... You've got to sacrifice a little bit in this sport.... That's what's going to make the difference."

He began to talk about individuals and quickly named Jared Fitzgerald and Brandy Harrison as his two best runners to date. "Fitzgerald is from North Scituate," he said; "he ran a 4:25 mile in high school.... I don't know much about Harrison except that he went to Deerfield; but he's been looking very strong so far. In last week's Handicap race, he came to me asking for a lower handicap than we'd originally assigned him. We gave it to him and he finished fifth overall; and that includes the varsity."

"Right now I'd have to say that these two are running well ahead of the rest," McCurdy said. "But we've got lots of other very promising runners." He named Jacques La France, John Evans, and Ed Harrington as his third, fourth and fifth men, at least as of now. "They've all had a fair amount of previous running experience and are improving fast."

He said he has high hopes for Brian Havey of Newton who has been sick and is not yet in condition; also for Bruce Nystrom and Bob Nelson. "Nelson's from my hometown, Mill Valley, Calif.," he noted, "he can't miss being good."

"Then there's John Barrett from Somerville, the smallest runner we've had since Dave MacLean. If somebody doesn't make a mistake and step on him, he'll do very well."

"And I mustn't forget Sam Young and Ole Fagerman," he continued. "They're not in shape yet, but they're good prospects--as are Pete Rowntree and George Gilder, both new to distance running.

He was about through now, but somebody mentioned Yale. Yale, it was suggested, has a truly exceptional group of freshmen, including Tom Carroll, holder of the national high school half-mile record.

"They can have those guys," he said with some feeling. "They'll have to sweat to beat this team of ours."