"They weren't as good as I thought they'd be," Howie Foye remarked yesterday after Harvard's cross country team swept to a 17-39 win over Dartmouth at Franklin Park. The Crimson had expected a close meet.

Captain Tom Spangle remained undefeated with a victory in 27:16, while his, team took five of the top seven positions. It was Harvard's fifth win.

From the one-mile point, Harvard was in control. Spengler and Bob Seals were running with Dartmouth's Tom Shiland, when Spengler said to Seals, "Let's go, Bob." The two opened up a 40-yard lead going down a hill as Shiland never attempted to stick with them.

At the two-mile spot, Spengler and Seals were still running together, but three Indians were battling with the Crimson's Mark Connolly 100 yards back. The three had to stay up because Harvard's John Quirk and Howie Foye were close behind.

Two miles later, it was not even a race. Connolly and Quirk were running together in third, and Foye was sticking right to the four Dartmouth men in front of him. It had been just a matter of time as to when Quirk would make his move. "I just got tried of running behind those Dartmouh guys," he said later.

Connolly suffered from a bad cramp in the last mile or so. "It was the worst I've ever had. I thought I was going to die." he explained. Meanwhile, Foye moved past Steve Shirey and Bob Varsha, both of Dartmouth, into seventh place, where he finished.

Spengler had left Seals behind about halfway through the course. Once again, he finished all alone in first place. So far this season, no runner has been able to push Spengler at the finish.

It was a terribly encouraging meet for the Crimson, which has run some rather inconsistent races this fall, No one turned in a disappointing performance, even though the times were slow on the puddle course.

Even more impressive was the fact that Harvard won with such authority despite competing without four good runners. Tom New, Mike Koerner, and Jeff Brokaw never started because of various ailments, and George Barker dropped out after the first mile because of a leg cramp.

Another surprise was an upset of Dartmouth by Harvard's freshmen. Strong running in the last half-mile enabled the Crimson to take the top three-spots and win, 24-31. "It was a big upset, I'm telling you," coach Pappy Hunt asserted.

Rick Rojas was the winner once again, with Jerry Hines finishing second and Andy Campbell third.