James V. Baker '68, of Lowell House and Northfleet England, has been reelected captain of next year's cross-country team.

Baker was captain this year as a junior, but his running was constantly hampered by an ankle injury. He came on strong at the finish however--placing 30th in the IC4A's in New York a week ago.

Great as Freshman

As a sophomore, Baker usually ran second behind senior Dave Allen, and he finished 40th in the IC4A's that year. As a freshman, Baker was considered the greatest distance runner ever to enter Harvard: he had run a 4:14.9 mile and a 9:14 two-mile as an English school-boy.

It has been a tough year for Captain Baker. In the beginning he would limp home in the middle of the pack, but his performance improved along with the team's enthusiasm near the end of the season.

Baker finished tenth in the Heps two weeks ago, earning a place on the 12-man All-Ivy team along with Doug Hardin, Bob Stempson, and Jim Smith.

Baker runs the mile and two-mile during the track season, and he holds the freshman record for the mile in the Harvard-Yale-Oxford Cambridge meet--4:12. This past season, he ran a 4:11.5 mile and a 9:05.5 two-mile.

The captain is an optimistic man. "We could have Harvard's best cross-country team ever," he said last night, because of a fine freshman contingent, and only one high-finisher (Smith) graduating.