The Harvard cross country team came back yesterday and soundly defeated the University of Massachusetts and Providence College at Franklin Park. The final score was Harvard 29, Providence 41, U. Mass. 51.

Harvard won the meet without the help of sophomore star Rich Rojas, who was out of action with a cold.

Winner in the meet was captain Mike Koerner, who took the number one spot with a time of 26:44. Last week against Northeastern Koerner ran the 5.5-mile Franklin Park track in 27:02 for second place.

Providence's Bob Speck took second place yesterday in 27:11 and was followed by Harvard's John Quirk, who ran a 27:34.

Harvard's third scorer was Marshall Jones, who came in sixth. Jones began to make his move for a top spot in the third mile and finished in 27:55, six seconds behind Providence's Jack Smith.

Tom New took eighth place in 28:10, and hardworking sophomore Jere Hines rounded out the Crimson scoring, capturing ninth place in 28:10.

Improvement

All of the Crimson's scorers improved on their times of the Northeastern meet. In that contest, Quirk ran a 28:02, while Jones finished in 28:06. New's time last week was 28:48, and Hines was clocked at 28:34.

The Crimson's Bobby Seals, coming back from a foot injury and running for the first time this year, finished 15th in yesterday's race and sixth for Harvard. His time was 28:56.

Head coach Bill McCurdy said after the meet that he was pleased with the Harriers' showing. "John Quirk was looking better, and so was Bobby Seals, although he is still a little out of shape," McCurdy said. "And Jere Hines stayed right in there."

A disappointment in the meet was the performance of Freddie Linsk, another of McCurdy's promising sophomores. Linsk finished 31st at 30:53. He ran a 28:08 against Northeastern for 7th place.

Bad Cold

Linsk's performance, however, was greatly impeded by a cold which he thinks he passed on to Rojas. "He decided to stay out of the meet, and that's probably what I should have done," Linsk said yesterday.

Among the other Harvard runners were sophomore Mike Bernick, who finished 28th at 30:23; junior Dan Eddy, who finished 33rd; and sophomore Raphael Jones, who finished 35th.

Koerner finished some 27 seconds ahead of second-place Speck and bested Rojas' 26:57 winning time against Northeastern.

Yardlings Lose

The Harvard freshmen lost yesterday, against both Providence and U. Mass, in separately scored contests. The Friars bested the Yardlings, 26-33, while Massachusetts won, 27-30.

The freshman loss came despite strong performances by Jim Keefe, who took first place in the three-mile run in 15:56, and Bob Alden, who took fifth in 16:17.