Beat Princeton, lose to Yale. Beat Yale, lose to Princeton. It's a trap. The varsity cross country team, a solid favorite in the Big Three meet for the first time in years, went down to a resounding defeat before Princeton yesterday at Franklin Park. And though the Crimson beat Yale at long last, it was hardly the kind of thing you'd want to tell your grandchildren about.

Scores on a triangular basis were Princeton 27, Harvard 42, Yale 52. Dual meet scores were Princeton 22, Harvard 33; Princeton 20, Yale 36; Harvard 24, Yale 31. Other scores floating around included Northwestern 17, Indiana 7 in the third period and Reds 2, Yankees 0 in the eighth.

Three were just scores of scores. In an achievement of really staggering proportions, the Yardlings took the first nine places in their meet, totaling the minimum 15 points to Princeton's 56 and Yale's 75. In dual meets, it was Harvard 15, Yale 50; Harvard 15, Princeton 50; and Princeton 21, Yale 37.

The varsity's bid for a perfect season failed because captain Mark Mullin, Ed Hamlin, and Eddie Meehan showed the effects of fighting the good fight all season long in sickness and in health, and because a fired-up Princeton team and refused to wilt as the Crimson set a man-killing early pace.

Mack Takes First

First place, of course, went to the imperturable Bobby Mack of Yale. Mack covered the five-mile course in 25:18, and looked at the finish as if he could go right out and do it again.

Mike Kingston and Ted Johnson of Princeton took second and third, followed by Meehan and Mullin. Cementing Princeton's victory, Byron Rose and Pete Hoey came in sixth and seventh. The Crimson's Ed Hamlin hung on for eighth after a bout with a stitch, and Bob Wilson of Princeton was ninth.

The situation began to deteriorate Harvard-wise at the three-mile mark, when Bob Knapp, who had been up with the leaders, fell back to 11th. Shortly thereafter Hamlin, running easily in fourth place, got his stitch, and that just about did it.

Mullin's sore leg hampered him, and he was unable to challenge the leaders. Nobody had the dry heaves, but Meehan had the wet heaves rather extensively before the race. His fourth-place effort despite illness was courageous indeed.

Brian McPhelim took first for the Yardlings in their overwhelming triumph, with a 15:07 clocking. Captain John Ogden, competing on a sore leg, bravely stuck it out for a ninth place, out of the scoring column for the first time but ahead of all enemy runners.