"I'm very excited about New Englands and our other upcoming meets because there will be so many teams there," said Baker. "At these meets, it is even more important that we focus on running together in packs and narrowing the time gap between our No. 1 and No. 5 guy. I feel confident that we can do this."

Harvard should have an advantage in Friday's race because it is on Harvard's home course, Franklin Park.

"It will be a slobberknocker to boot," said Martin, "to quote Jim Ross, but we're tough like that."

Harvard Women

Helms (1st- 18:33) lead the way for the women with a strong performance. After taking last cross-country season off, Helms has run well for the Crimson this season, and placed 19th overall out of 150 runners last week at the Meet of Champions.

Hymas also ran well in New Haven, finishing in sixth place overall.

"I felt good after the race on Friday, mostly because it feels like we are meshing very well as a team," Hymas said. "We communicate well, and help each other to be better runners. I was a little surprised that we were third out of three teams, but we also did the best we could have done. Personally, I was rather giddy after my race. I had a fun time running on the golf course, even though it was pretty hilly. It was like running on cushy carpet."

Typically strong runners like junior Mary Unsworth, senior captain Kate Moynihan, and sophomore Erin Leonard, all finished behind 10th place. Unsworth is recovering from the flu and, despite leading for the first mile, dropped back in the pack after having trouble breathing. The recent hard training and hilly terrain proved to be trouble for the others on the team as well.