Sophomore speedster Doug Hardin just may meet his match today.

Hardin -- undefeated and unchallenged so far this season--will tangle with Cornell's Gordon McKusick, the hottest runner in the East, in a cross-country meet at Franklin Park at noon.

McKusick is also unbeaten this year. In each of his races he has broken the standing course record. Right now he is the favorite to win the Heptagonal meet at the end of the season, And, like Hardin, the Cornell wonder is only a sophomore.

Last year McKusick finished first in the IC4A freshman cross-country meet. Hardin placed 35th.

The Hardin-McKusick match may be the most exciting duel of the cross-country season, but it won't have much bearing on the outcome of the whole meet. In cross-country the point difference between first and second place is the same as between 11th and 12th.

Middle-Placers

So the contest will probably be decided in the secondary group. Like Harvard, Cornell has consistently had trouble breaking up the opposition's middle-placers. The Big Red's sophomore Ron Nehring will probably battle it out with Harvard's Jim Smith for third place. Smith has finished third in every meet so far.

The Crimson harriers still aren't completely healthy. Captain Jim Baker has a troublesome ankle. Bill Stempson has a slight cold. Joe Ryan is not feeling so great. And Dick Howe is sick.

But the crippled squad has won with problems worse than these. Coach Bill McCurdy will bank on Smith and sophomore Tim McLoone to even up the team's record at 3-3.