Harvard's freshman cross country team beat Andover yesterday, 19-44. Doug Hardin came in first for the Crimson, an Andover runner finished second, and twelve Harvard harriers followed them in. But that isn't the way it's been going for Coach Ed Stowell's squad. The record is three wins, four losses, and lots of experience.

In the opener, a win against Providence, 22-37, Hardin was heading for first, took a wrong turn on the Franklin Field course, and came in fourth. At Cornell, the course record, set in 1960, was broken by a Big Red freshman with two teammates behind him. Harvard lost that meet, 32-23. These meets have been more typical of the season than the lopsided victory at Andover.

Hardin has been the bright spot of the year. After his wrong turn against Providence, he finished second against Northeastern, first against Brown and Columbia-Penn, and eighth against Cornell.

At Cornell, Hardin didn't take the wrong turn, he took the wrong man. He tried to keep pace with a Cornell freshman named McKusick, but McKusick was on his way to the most sensational Ivy running performance of the year. He broke the record of Steve Machooka, Cornell '60, who Coach Bill McCurdy referred to yesterday as "one of those phantoms who pops up from time to time in the Ivy League."

Against the rest of the league, the Harvard team hasn't faced any other phantoms but it has faced a lot of fast distance men. The pattern was the same against Northeastern, Brown, and Columbia-Penn, Hardin finished first or second and the next Harvard runner was sixth or seventh. In the Cornell meet, when Hardin overmatched himself, the first Harvard runner in was Captain Wally Liverance, fourth.

Turned Down Advance Standing

The test of these runners will be how well they develop for the varsity in the next three years. Hardin turned down advanced standing to get the extra year of freshman experience. He and Liverance will try to replace Walt Hewlett and Dave Allen next year, with competition from Jim Stinchcomb, Keith Krieger, Bruce Jones, Tim McLoone, and Frank Sulloway.

Meanwhile they will face Dartmouth Friday and Princeton and Yale on October 29.