While most Harvard students spent the weekend unpacking and getting settled, a handful of dedicated men and women broke in their racing shoes at the season opener for the Harvard cross country team.

The men's team, which stumbled slightly towards the end of last season, launched a respectable beginning with a fifth-place finish in the Fordham Invitational last Saturday. Eleven complete teams competed in the Invitational, and two incomplete teams were also present.

The women's team also performed well, maintaining the fourth-place finish they received the previous year in the same Invitational. Last fall, the women finished fourth of fifteen teams, and this year, the Crimson surpassed eight teams in the field of twelve.

Despite the loss of a few key runners, both squads overcame the struggle they faced towards the end of last season. Both teams finished eighth place out of nine teams in the Heptagonal Championships in Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. The men finished with a record of 43-14 overall, while the women crossed the finish line with a record of 31-25 overall.

"The women's team looks really strong this year. We have a very solid core of returning upperclassmen, and we should also have a good number of freshmen joining us next week," said Kate Moynihan. "I am very positive about this season, particularly because of the great attitudes and optimism of everyone on the team. Everyone is training very hard and working together as a team, which is so essential for good cross country racing."

Beginning his eighteenth season as head coach for both teams, Frank Haggerty '68 was not sure what to expect. According to Haggerty, full practice for both teams began the previous Wednesday, giving the team only a few days to prepare.

"We used that race as more of a hard training run to see where we all were and to see what areas we needed improvement on, personally and as a team," Moynihan said. "The team ran a pretty solid effort, but I think we will really show a lot of improvement as the season progresses. I think we are in a position now where we have all just come off summer training without much speed work, but now that we are maintaining mileage and adding speed work and hill workouts, we will steadily improve and come together as a team by mid-October."

The same strong start seen by both teams the previous season may not be feasible this year. The loss of star runners Scott Muoio '99 and Margaret Schotte '99 will leave large voids that the young team will have to fill. Quickly.

"We definitely lost some key runners last year," Haggerty said. "We lost our number one man and woman."