The Harvard cross country team is looking to work its way back into the top Ivy rankings today as it goes against the highly touted Cornell harriers in Ithaca.

The Red, currently tied with Penn for the top spot in Ivies, boasts two impressive runners, Ray DeMaree and Phil Collins, who are rumored to be in the same class as Ric Rojas, the Crimson captain who is undefeated this fall.

"Poor Ric keeps running into these real hot number one men," Harvard coach Bill McCurdy said yesterday, "but that's just too bad for them."

DeMaree turned out to be perhaps the top Ivy distance man at the end of the track season last year. Teammate Collins beat Rojas in his freshman year, although he has had a somewhat spotty career since then. Both of these runners have been clocked at well under nine minutes for the two-mile run.

"The trouble is," McCurdy said, "Cornell has a pretty impressive bunch behind DeMaree and Collins. In a meet against Army, eight people finished in a 54 second grouping behind the fast pace. This might be classified as depth."

To crack the string of Cornell scorers, the Crimson is going to need sterling performances by number two man Jim Keefe, Andy Campbell and Dirk Skinner. "Campbell has the endurance, but with him it is a question of speed," McCurdy said, "and Skinner is constantly being asked to produce more than appears sensible to expect."

Freshman Jeff Campbell, who is gaining vital experience every time he runs, and Jerry Hines, who finished a surprising fourth against Brown last week, will also be counted on to collect points.

Rojas and Fred Linsk have the additional burden of taking the Law Boards this morning. "Whether this will leave them jaded or so damn tired of intellectual effort that they'll be ready to explode physically is open to conjecture," McCurdy said.

"By the way, we're establishing some sort of first this time as the trip will be managed by Maria Kacandes," McCurdy said. "John Noble (the other manager) is folding in gracious fashion to female pressure groups, but you know what's going to be said about Woman's Lib if we lose. If we win, though, Noble is through."