Eight Rows Tomorrow at Princeton

Two weeks ago the varsity crew rowed a relatively poor race and lost to Princeton. Last week it rowed a very fine race and beat Navy and Penn. Tomorrow the Crimson oarsman compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges sprint championships and have a chance to show whether the loss to Princeton was a fluke or indeed, as tomorrow's seedings claim, Harvard is not the crew to beat in the East.

This is the first year since 1948 that the varsity isn't seeded first for the E.A.R.C. regatta. Instead, Yale, on the basis of its victory over Princeton, Cornell, and Syracuse last weekend, has climbed to sudden fame and has the first seeding, while Princeton is seeded second.

The best guess would be that the Crimson is likely to prove that the seedings are wrong. Last weekend the Harvard oarsmen looked very good and in practice during the week they have continued to perform consistently well. A delicate mechanism like a crew is bound to go bad once in a while and that's probably what happened against Princeton.

Tom Bolles has stuck to the boating change that he used against Navy and Penn--Ted Anderson for Steve Hedberg at the five oar. The switch originally came about not because Bolles was attempting any mid-season masterminding, but because Hedberg had to take a medical aptitude exam. The crew has performed excellently with Anderson at five, however, and Bolles sees no reason to tempt fate by returning Hedberg, despite the fact that the crew's improvement since Anderson came in could be coincidence. As Bolles puts it, "You don't have time to monkey around with boatings at this time of the year."

The Crimson has drawn Navy, Rutgers, and Columbia in its first best. Despite the fact that they lost to Harvard by two lengths last weekend, the Sailors can make trouble and just how much trouble they make is important. If they force the varsity to row a very tough race in its first heat, it will be less able to cope with more competent opposition in the final. Rutgers and Columbia shouldn't be much trouble.

Both Yale and Princeton have easier first heats. The Elis will take on Syracuse and Cornell, and the Tigers row M.I.T. and B.U.

All races tomorrow will be 2000 meters instead of the mile and three quarters rowed on the Charles and the "Renley" mile and five sixteenths rowed at Philadelphia last week. Princeton's Lake Carnegie, an artificially formed, sheltered course, is probably the best rowing territory in the East.

Unlike the varsity, the J.V.'s are heavy favorites. Not only is the junior boat the only undefeated J.V. crew in the East but it is also the only undefeated crew at Harvard.

Harvey Love's freshmen are underdogs. If they win, and occasionally practice has shown it would be possible, they will have to beat Cornell, Princeton, and Navy, the official choices.

The boastings:

Varsity: bow, Atherton; 2, Du Bois; 3, Iselin; 4, Slocum; 5, Anderson; 6, L. Rouner; 7, Gifford; stroke, McCagg; cox, Clark

Junior Varsity: bow, Asp; 2, Keniston; 3, Bliss; 4, Boyden; 5, Hedberg; 6, Bohlen; 7, Peale; stroke, A. Rouner; cox, Lefkowitz