"I feel that I'm probably the greatest coach in any legal sport," cross-country coach Bill McCurdy (who else?) once quipped. McCurdy's greatness, perhaps more than anything else, lies in his originality.

That quality apparently rubbed off on this fall's cross-country squad, which finished a standout season at Denton, Texas, yesterday in the NCAA meet.

Any team that wins the IC4As after a dismal season the year before has to be a little original, right? Well, they are, and they've done it with a combination of hard work and a light, McCurdian attitude.

The players are even beginning to sound like McCurdy. Asked what spurred the team to an unexpected success Saturday afternoon, hirsute-faced captain Jeff Campbell dead-panned: "The bearded look on the captain."

The growth of the beard and the team's practice both began in early September at the Grotonwood training camp.

"We'd always run camp with a three-loop routine," sophomore Pete Fitzsimmons, an All-Ivy performer last year, said Saturday. "This year, we ran five. Every day we ran 17 miles before eight o'clock."

As if the routine were not hard enough, unheralded sophomore Ed Sheehan started doing greyhound imitations on the long-distance runs.

"He was out there and we were chasing him all the time," Fitzsimmons said.

Even the mild-mannered Fitzsimmons, though, has been touched by some of the McCurdy blarney. Reflecting on the 23-day training period, Fitzsimmons quipped, "We knew that if we got through the camp we'd be either dead or the IC4A champs."

If the first few meets were any indication, the Crimson was leaning toward the grave. The harriers turned in only average performances in the first few meets on the schedule.

"At that point," Campbell said, "we'd lost two but I felt encouraged." The reason? "We had more guys than last year, and we were all in better shape."

"And," Fitzsimmons added, "we had a better attitude." The attitude, perhaps more than the hard work, was the key, and it came from individuals. The cast of originals, briefly:

--Campbell, Fitzsimmons and Sheehan, but you know about them.

--Stein Rafto, who ran a strong 11th in the IC4A meet. "Stein is incredibly looser," Fitzsimmons said. "Last year, he psyched himself up too much."

--Freshman Reed Eichner. In the words of captain Campbell: "The last good runner to come out of Kansas was Jim Ryun, and he fell down in the Olympics." But seriously, folks... Campbell continued: "Eichner's incredibly relaxed about running--almost emotionless--and he's in great condition. He's just phenomenal."