Despite a tortuous five-mile course that sent two of the top eight finishers off on wrong turns, the Harvard men's cross country team snagged six of those finishing positions yesterday in Providence and defeated Brown to run its record to 4-2.

The Crimson's Paul Kent was the first casualty, adding a patch of thorns to his already treacherous itinerary. But despite some scraped legs as a result of his wrong turn Ken emerged with a first-place finish in 24:50.2.

Chris Schille of Brown (24:51.0) and teammate David Alden (24:59.9) cruised in second and third, but after that it was all Harvard.

Peter Jelley (25:12.9), Cliff Sheehan (25:20.1), John Duffy (25:26.8), Andy Gerken (25:39.7) and John Perkins (25:44.1) bagged the next five finishes and the Crimson snagged the meet, 23-32.

Women's Cross Country 15, Brown 49

Meanwhile, for the Harvard women's cross country team the course was five kilometers but just as confusing.

Crimson junior Jenny Stricker, however, managed to redirect herself in time to finish second (18:16.1), behind teammate Kate Wiley (17:49:7).

And Wiley had to look pretty far back to see anyone who wasn't a teammate. Brown's first finisher, Sarah Condon, took seventh in 19:04.8. She was proceeded by Crimson freshman Kristin Perini (18:18.2) in third, Leslie Cooper (18:55.4), Kathy Good (19:00.2) and Diana Edge (19:01).

Freshman Meredith Green rounded out Harvard's scoring with 19:05.2 to take eighth, and the Cantabs took home their first victory of the season. Their record stands at 1.2.