Kirkland House literally ran away with top honors in the Cross Country race yesterday. Flooding the field with fourteen entries, Kirkland outpointed second place Lowell by 17 points. Eliot managed to place last, entering one runner who didn't finish.

Individually, George Gilder, winner of last year's race, copped first place again this year. He was awarded the spot only after two Dudley freshmen, who finished first and second, were disqualified as members of the freshman team. Don Kursch of Dunster and Jeff Peck of Lowell finished second and third respectively.

With the fall sports season drawing rapidly to a close, no House has yet clinched a championship in any team sport. Soccer will be decided by the Eliot-Dunster contest next Tuesday, but special play-offs will probably be necessary in both tackle and touch football.

On the soccer scene, Dunster leads the league with four wins and one loss. With only six games remaining out of the 28 game schedule, all the other Houses have been mathematically eliminated. Adams, Quincy, Kirkland, Leverett, Winthrop and Lowell are in third through eighth places respectively. Dudley did not enter a team.

The football situation is not too clear. Kirkland and Leverett are tied for first place, with six wins and one loss. Eliot, in third place with five wins, a loss, and a tie, is pressing hard on the leaders' heels. Floyd Wilson, Director of Intramural Athletics, anticipates a playoff for the right to play the Yale champion on Nov. 24.

The three leaders have left the other teams far behind. Houses Quincy, Adams, Winthrop, Dunster, Dudley, and Lowell occupy fourth through ninth places.

In touch football, the top teams are even more closely bunched. Kirkland, which has completed its schedule, is first with a seven and one record. Dunster and Winthrop are tied for second with six wins and one tie. Both have another game next week.

Dunster faces Lowell, which has managed to salvage only one win out of seven games, and Winthrop plays Dudley, which has yet to win a game. Thus, a three-way tie for first place is possible. Rounding out the league standings are Adams, Leverett, Eliot, Quincy, Lowell, and Dudley in that order.

Kirkland House is the present holder o the Straus Trophy, emblematic of House athletic supremacy. The Deacons ran up 1523 1/6 points in 1960-61, to defeat Winthrop by 140. Adams House was third, and Leverett fourth.