The varsity cross country team closes out its season today, competing in the I. C. A. A. A. A. championships at Van Cortlandt Park in New York.

The Crimson is not expected to grab any big headlines in this, the granddaddy of all cross country meets, but nonetheless it should manage to finish fairly high up among the fifty-odd college entries.

The fight for the winner's prize will probably be confined to the midwestern schools, which have dominated this meet in recent years. Michigan State is the defending champion. Best hope for a high finish among the Ivy League teams is Cornell, winner of the Heptagonals, ten days ago.

The flu-bug, which has played havoc with the Crimson all fall, has directed one final swipe at the squad in striking down its captain, Dave Norris. Norris spent most of last week in bed and almost certainly will not run today.

Dave Donaldson will replace Norris in a Crimson lineup which will include senior Pete Reider, juniors Dyke Benjamin, Jim Schlaeppi, and Willie Thompson, and sophomores Ed Martin and Wes Hildreth.

Crimson fans with a sentimental bent will note with more than passing interest that this is Reider's last cross country race in a Harvard uniform. The little senior has been a front-runner for the varsity throughout the past three years, and his overall record must certainly be rated on a par with that of former Crimson running greats.

Last season at the IC4A's Reider finished 17th in a field of 350 runners--a remarkable performance considering both the quantity and the quality of his opposition. He may not be able to do quite so well this year, however, since he has been bothered all season by an assortment of minor illnesses.

With the one notable exception of Norris, the Crimson runners are probably in better shape today than at any time in recent weeks.

Schlaeppi has made great improvement in the past few meets and might well provide one of the best Crimson finishes today. But the hopes of the sentimentalists will ride with Reider.