Crew Faces First Race In 3 Weeks

With about 70 more miles astern of them as a result of a week's vacation rowing, the Varsity oarsmen now face the reality of an opening race less than three weeks hence and the task of keeping last year's spotless record unblemished.

In the first few days of practice Tom Bolles introduced an extensive reshuffling program, and until Wednesday nobody, probably including the coach himself, knew which was the first crew. During this period of upheaval the second eight persisted in coming in ahead of its superior, and no matter what changes Bolles made, the revamped "firsts" continued to trail the "seconds".

Stern Four Demoted

Not even last year's stern four was immune to the shifting, and one by one Bolles sent them down to the second boat in an effort to put some life into his "Varsity". At length an equilibrium was reached in which the "second" eight beat the "firsts" continually and conclusively. It then automatically became the Varsity for the rest of the week without benefit of a special declaration, in fact, the Varsity continued to row in the regular Jayvee shell for the duration.

On Saturday the Varsity lined up with lightweight Tommy Boynton as coxswain, Bus Curwen at stroke, Dave Challinor at seven, Hallett Whitman at six, and Captain Ted Lyman at five. The bow four, however, was greatly altered. Johnny Erskine had moved from his usual two slide to number four. Scho Andrews, out of last spring's '44 eight, took over the number three seat, and Juniors Johnny Richardson and Pop Jenks accounted for the two bow positions.

Time Trial Satisfactory

That was the crew which ran over the mile and three-quarters timetrial which concluded the week's practice. Although the time was not divulged, Bolles indicated that he was perfectly satisfied with the performance.

The Junior Varsity seating had Phi Bete Bryce Seligman at stroke, Bill Sohier, 7; Gerry Prince, 6; Mike Marshall, 5; Chuggy Lamson, 4; Ford King, 3; Dave Noyes, 2; and Reggie Fitz, bow. Dick Palmer and Jimmy Ducey are still continuing their struggle of last spring for the coxswain's seat.

Curwen took only a little time to round into form. With an afternoon's warmup in the waist of the Jayvees, he moved up to the Varsity, and then, in the shakeup, to the Jayvees, which later became the Varsity.