Lights Capture Biglin Bowl By 4 1/2 Lengths on Charles

Harvard's lightweight crew, jumping out to a quick three-quarter length lead at the start, overwhelmed Dartmouth, MIT, and the Coast Guard to defend its Biglin Bowl championship with a four-and-a-half length victory Saturday on the Charles.

Crimson coach Steve Gladstone's varsity took advantage of calm water and near-ideal conditions to sprint home in 6:38,l full 16 seconds ahead of the nearest challenger. Dartmouth rowing in its first race of the year, despite the fact that the Indians still have only 500 meters of ice-free water in Hanover, finished a strong second. Dartmouth posted a 6:54.0 for the 2000-meter course.

Gladstone was particularly pleased with the performance of his lightweights. "The varsity came along very nicely today." he said after the race Saturday. "We looked very strong."

Never Challenged

The Crimson were never really challenged at any point in the contest. At the 1000-meter mark. Harvard had already built up an imposing two-length lead, which steadily increased during the second thousand meters of the race. the lightweights were still accelerating when they crossed the finish line with a large expanse of open water between them and their nearest competitor.

MIT, a boat that Gladstone had felt would offer Harvard a strong challenge for the Biglin title. finished a disappointing third, The Engineers came home in 6:54.1 a tenth of a second behind Dartmouth and just ahead of a surprising Coast Guard eight.

The impressive varsity win was not the only strong Crimson performance on Saturday, as Harvard won every race that it entered.

In the JV competition the Crimson swept the first two places, with the winning boat turning in an impressive 6:44. The most impressive performance of the day came in this race as Harvard's JV boat swept past MIT and Dartmouth to finish second. Harvard's JV finished a shopping 7.3 seconds ahead of MIT's first JV eight.

"The JV had another solid race." Gladstone said after the sweep, " and I was very pleased with the JV performance. That third boat is a real .

The freshman lights enabled the Crimson to claim total dominance of the Saturday racing action the winning both freshman races. The first freshman boat turned in a string 6:46.8 in only its second competitive race.

Varsity Confident

Looking ahead, Gladstone was enthusiastic after Saturday's win. "This will inject some real confidence into our varsity." he said. "It gives them a solid platform to build on for the important races coming us." In the next few weeks the Crimson will come up against Princeton and Navy, two of the strongest light weight entries in the Eastern League.

The freshman lights enabled the Crimson to claim total dominance of the Saturday racing action the winning both freshman races. The first freshman boat turned in a string 6:46.8 in only its second competitive race.

Varsity Confident

Looking ahead, Gladstone was enthusiastic after Saturday's win. "This will inject some real confidence into our varsity." he said. "It gives them a solid platform to build on for the important races coming us." In the next few weeks the Crimson will come up against Princeton and Navy, two of the strongest light weight entries in the Eastern League.