The Harvard cross country teams gained a split decision yesterday at Franklin Park in Boston at the annual Harvard--Yale--Princeton tri-meet.

The women's team (9-1) suffered its first loss of the season while the men captured first place.

Boasting a three-way score of 38, the Crimson finished just ahead of Princeton and Yale. The Elis and the Tigers tied for second place, each scoring 45 points.

In the double dual meet, Harvard staved off Yale, 26-32, and Princeton, 27-32.

"For the men's varsity, it's good to win this meet," Coach Ed Sheehan said. "Harvard and Yale have the longest rivalry anywhere. We expected to win by more, but our one and two runners didn't score for us."

With top runner Ted Ullyot nursing nagging injuries, the Crimson had to rely on its depth.

"The really good races from Spenter Punter in fourth, Tim Harte in sixth, and John Oakes in tenth, really pulled us through," Sheehan said.

On the downside, the women harriers had their undefeated record broken, finishing in third place.

The Crimson finished with a three-way score of 50. The Tigers racked up 39 points and Yale bounded ahead with 33. In the dual meet, Yale beat Harvard 22 to 33, and Princeton did the same 25 to 32.

"We would have had to run our very best race to beat either Yale or Princeton, by far the strongest teams in the league," Sheehan said.

Facing second-ranked Yale and 11th-ranked Princeton, the Harvard women did not run their best race.

Leading all Crimson runners to the finish line was Suzanne Jones, who finished in a time of 16:49. Jones placed fifth overall in the 5-kilometer race.

Both Crimson squads hope to improve their times for the Heptagonal Championships next weekend.

"At the Heps," Sheehan said, "we're just going to have to run a better race."