A brilliant Cornell cross-country team outshined the Crimson harriers, 23-37, yesterday at Ithaca Golf Courses in Ithaca, N.Y.

"Last week against Brown, I though I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but we had an acute energy crisis yesterday," Harvard coach Bill McCurdy said after the meet.

Dulled by illnesses and injuries, the Crimson managed to place only four funners among the top 15 to finish the five mile course.

Big Red runner Dan Predmore hiked across the finish line first at 25:29, edging Harvard runner John Murphy who crossed the line four seconds later. Third place unquestionably belonged to Crimson harrier Reed Eichner who finished at 25:41.

The runners went out at a good pace--notching the first mile at 4:45--and remained in a pack until about the two mile mark when three front-runners broke away and proceeded to trade off the lead.

Extraordinary

At four miles, Eichner took the lead and appeared to be in position to repeat his last week's performance when he captured top honors against Brown.

But Eichner was out-gorged.

About 500 yards before the finish, the otherwise flat course gradually slants downwards for 300 yards until it steepens precipitously for a 30-yard stretch which separate the boys from the mountain goats.

On his way up the hill, Eichner lost his lead to Predmore who had the home-gorge advantage. Murphy also move past Eichner, and with 150 yards to go, the race was settled.

"That last little hill really hurt our guys, "McCurdy said. "I don't know if they want to rename it, but it should be named something derogatovy."

Places four through eight belonged to Cornell while Crimson freshmen Buck Logan finished ninth.

Logan has yet to fully recover from shingles which kept him from running in the last meet and out of the honors yesterday. The fast pace also took its toll on captain Thad McNulty, who also missed the last race.

The absence due to illness of Harvard's Noel Schidmore, who finished third against Brown further weakened the squad.

"We're basically a five-man team, and only two out of the five showed their potential," McCurdy said.

McCurdy added that Crimson sophomore Peter Johnson ran his "best race this far," Johnson finished fifteenth in 27:06.

The meet pushed the Crimson record below the .500 mark to 3-4. Although Harvard beat the Big Red last year at the Heptagonals, this was the teams' first dual-meet in the past four years.

Next Tuesday, the harriers compete against area colleges in the Greater Boston Championships. Though the Crimson lack depth, Logan, McNulty and Scidmore should all be stronger by then and Harvard will be looking forward to repeating last year's championship performance.