Facing its toughest competition of the season, the Harvard track team lost to Northeastern last night at the Huskies Huntington Avenue Cage, 61-48.

Last night's meet was a good indication of what these two teams can expect when they meet again at the Greater Boston Championships (GBC), on February 4 and 5. Looking forward to that event, Coach Bill McCurdy commented. "The GBC will be right after exams which is tough for us. Northeastern will have a little more stimulus. The question will be how much we can hold and improve."

"We had a lot of stuff tonight we couldn't use and considering that we did a hell of alot of competing," he said.

The absence of several valuable people greatly weakened the Crimson effort. One event in which this was evident was the 600. There, Huskie Paul Horrigan--who holds Northeastern's 600 record--set the pace, winning the event ahead of Harvard's Nick Leone. Harvard 600 runner Rick Melvoin did not compete owing to a battle with the flu.

The strongest event in the Northeastern attack proved to be the shot put, where the Huskies took all three places. The Crimson's Hughes, who with a fine performance won the 35 lb, throw, was unable to beat the impressive Northeastern distances.

In the two mile race. Crimson's Mike Koerner and Ric Rojas overwhelmed Northeastern's Bill Rowe and Joe Crowley. Rojas won the event in 9.21 and Koerner was second, while Rowe, who holds the school record, did not finish.

Going into the last two events, the mile and two mile relay, the Huskies led 51-48. Had the Crimson harriers been able to win both events, they would have won the meet. In the one mile relay a Harvard victory was disqualified and the second relay was won by a strong Northeastern relay squad, and the Huskies won 61-48.