Harvard's unbeaten cross country team notched its seventh win of the season Saturday, sweeping the first seven places to shut out visiting Cornell, 15-50.

Cornell never had much of a chance. Through some administrative error, Harvard did not even mark the 5.5-mile Franklin Park course, and the Big Red runners had to jog around it with Harvard coach Bill McCurdy prior to the race. From the opening gun, however, there were plenty of Crimson harriers in front to show the way.

At the end of the first mile, eight Harvard runners led Cornell's brave Jon Anderson. That picture never changed much as McCurdy's Marauders swept all 12 starters across the finish before Cornell's second man.

Junior Royce Shaw romped to his fifth straight victory in a time of 26:54, only four seconds off his own course record. Shaw shared the early pace with captain Doug Hardin, who kept the pressure on for the first four miles. Dave Pottetti, never too far behind, moved with Shaw as Hardin fell back slightly over the last mile. Then with 300 yards to go, Shaw spotted the finish line and the spectators and jetted away from Pottetti to finish with a three second margin.

Pottetti bettered his personal record on the home course by more than 40 seconds. Coach McCurdy was pleased but not surprised by the sophomore's performance. Pottetti has shown that he is capable of running with anyone in the league, and only a few minor injuries have kept him from performing consistently.

Hardin finished a strong third, four seconds behind Pottetti. Tom Spengler lost contact with the leaders surprisingly early, but continued on to cop fourth. Sophomore Jon Enscoe stayed with Spengler tenaciously most of the way for fifth place in his best race to date.

Keith Colburn and Erik Roth completed the sweep, with Roth holding off Cornell's Anderson over the last mile for seventh place. But Anderson's finish was only a momentary reprieve for the Big Red. Behind him, Tim McLoone, John Heyburn, Howie Foye, Pete Dennehy, and Max Schweizer paraded across the line before Cornell number two man Bill DelaRosa.

Coach McCurdy was pleased with his squad's strong, aggressive start, particularly in light of the full track workout on Friday. Without doubt, the eight tightly-bunched Crimson runners in front at the mile mark discouraged the young Cornell squad.

Even without tough competition from Ivy opponents so far, McCurdy's runners have effectively kept the pressure on each other. Sophomore Howie Foye, for example, lacked the sharpness Saturday that he exhibited in last week's Brown meet. The result showed five teammates moving past him with Foye dropping to the tenth rung on the ladder.