Heavies Finish In Third

The varsity heavweight crew finished third to Cornell and Rutgers in a mile race at Ithaca Saturday. The story can be summarized as sloppy rowing in sloppy weather.

Both Cornell, the pre-race favorite, and Rutgers were able to handle the rough choppy water on the twisting mile-long canal better than the Crimson eight which caught frequent crabs and never hung together. The Big Red finished half a length in front of the Crimson, which lost to Rutgers by about two seats.

Heavy winds and rain forced the scheduled mile and three-quarters race on Lake Cayuga onto the shorter course. The shells were staggered at the start with the varsity on the inside and Cornell on the outside.

Harvard rowed the race at a much higher stroke than Cornell. It fell behind during the first quarter mile as the oarsmen had difficulty in keeping together behind the high stroke start. Although the crew seemed to hold its own during the middle half-mile of the race it never quite recovered from its shaky start. The tall Big Red crew, rowing with a longer lower stroke than the Crimson, expended less effort than the varsity.

Going into the second turn just before the end of the race the varsity was half a length behind both opponents, but it was not able to capitalize on its advantage despite a sprint at 40. Cornell held all its lead and Rutgers enough to slip in second.

In the J.V. race Cornell, rowing in the middle lane, cut across into the Crimson's water to win by one length. After the race, however the Big Red were disqualified for bad steering, giving the victory to the J.V. Rutgers finished a distant third.