The cross country team is getting over the flu--finally--and faces Dartmouth this afternoon at the Hanover Country Club Course. As to who will win: pick 'em.

Although the Crimson's leading runner, Ric Rojas, will again be out of action, the rest of the squad is expected to run. There remains some question about Capt. Mike Koerner, but he, too, will probably compete today.

The Crimson will be attempting to come back from its defeat last Saturday at the hands of a strong Cornell squad. Despite the loss, the team performance in that meet was heartening, particularly in view of the virus attack which hit, among others, Koerner and Rojas.

"If we run as well as we did against Cornell, we'll beat 'em," assistant coach Pappy Hunt said yesterday. Head coach Bill McCurdy was celebrating his wedding anniversary and could not be reached.

The Indians have a strong five wins-one loss record on the year, but they've yet to face strong opposition. In their last outing on Tuesday, they defeated Merrimac College (of which Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski is an alumnus) by a score of 15-50. In that meet, junior Tom Shiland tied with teammate Chris Peisch for first in 28:02 on the 5.0 mile Hanover course.

Shiland tied with Steve Shirey for first against Brown in a meet held last Friday at Dartmouth. They ran the course in 28:05 as the team went on to beat the Bruins, 15-50.

Van Cortland

"We'll be the first real team they meet," Hunt said. "Prognosticating the meet off the Van Cortland Park times (in New York City), which is the only place where both teams have run, the race tomorrow is just about a draw," he added. Dartmouth beat Yale two weeks ago at Van Cortland, 22-37, while Harvard lost to Penn there on October 1 by a 15-47 margin.

Since the Penn race, however, the Crimson middle group of Fred Linsk, Marshall Jones, Jere Hines and Tom New has improved considerably. Hunt predicted that this improved depth will give the Crimson a win today.

The Freshmen are favored to outrun the Dartmouth JV today. The Yardlings destroyed Cornell last Saturday 16-39.