While most of the community hid beneath umbrellas or in the safety of their dormitories, the Northeastern Huskies outlasted the Crimson harriers, 25-30, in the opening meet of the season.

"We ran, we swam, we splashed and we struggled," coach Bill McCurdy said yesterday. "We were purified by the rains from heaven, and defiled by Northeastern."

The final score of yesterday's meet duplicates that of a year ago, when the Huskies also put a damper on Harvard's debut. And, as was the case a year ago, two twins with the botanical name of Flora did most of the damage for Northeastern.

Gardener woes

"You know, I'm a gardener during the summer," McCurdy said," and two twins named Flora put the finishing touches on us. Something is just not right. I can't remember their names, though. I just swear when I see them."

The first twin, Jon, dueled Crimson junior Jeff Campbell for first-place honors throughout the downpour. At the three-mile mark, he took the lead from Campbell and held it until the finish, winning with a time of 26:50, 14 seconds ahead of Campbell.

The real drama, though, was developing directly in back of the pacesetters, where Harvard captain Bill Okerman, Crimson freshman Peter Fitzsimmons and Bob Flora were engaged in a wet battle for third.

A half mile from the finish, Flora and Fitzsimmons stood even with Okerman a short distance to the rear. The Crimson senior spurted to pull side by side with the others with just 100 yards remaining, before Flora, with a final surge, edged out the two Harvard runners at the finish line. Bob Flora's time of 27:09 was one second better than Okerman's, and four better than that of Fitzsimmons, who ran an outstanding first race for the Crimson.

Flora's (as in Bob) third-place finish was one of two results which clinched the race for the Huskies, the other being the sixth-seventh-eighth Northeastern triumvirate of Howie Scribner, Greg Cenick and Ken Flanders.

"These three broke our back," McCurdy said last night. "Northeastern didn't really assume command until the last mile, but that triple really hurt us."

Rounding Out

Harvard sophomores Stein Rafto and Brian Finn finished in ninth and tenth places, respectively, with times of 28:20 and 28:27 to round out the meet's scoring.

The harriers will next face Providence and U. Mass. on Tuesday, teams that should prove even tougher than the Huskies. Thus, while their record remains winless, they are garnering the necessary experience which should provide dividents later in the season, and experience is something that the Crimson seriously lacks.

"Overall," McCurdy said, "we ran better than expected, but now we would like to do even better. The big difference was our inexperience. It was a tough day, we lost our pace and fell out of positions. And those Floras, they're only sophomores. Damn their souls."