Harvard Light Crews Win by Default

And there came a voice from on high: "Let the Dartmouth number four man pulleth a crab." And he did. And so it came to pass that the Harvard lights pulled out a two-seat victory over Dartmouth after trailing by one-and-a-half lenghts with 200 meters to go.

The Dartmouth lightweight crews must have wandered back into the wilderness towards Hanover Saturday wondering whether there is not in fact some divine power guiding Harvard's crews to victory week after week. In a series of freak events--helped along by the choppy Charles--three Dartmouth crews watched certain victories slip from their grasp.

While yesterday's events added to the popular myth that Harvard crews cannot lose, the Harvard lights were made very aware that they are vulnerable. "Dartmouth was the better boat by four seconds," Coach John Higginson said yesterday.

In the varsity race, Harvard got off to its usual slow start and Dartmouth began to pull away. Even MIT, who tagged along for most of the day, managed to keep abreast of the Crimson for a few strokes.

Dartmouth opened a two-length lead at 1000 meters, before Harvard began to make its move. But the explosiveness that was evident the week before was not there.

Unlike Columbia, "they did not lay down and die for us," Higginson said. "We were pulling them back enough to worry them, but not enough to make them pull a crab."

However, as the obituaries were being prepared and it seemed that Dartmouth would win its first Biglin Bowl in 13 years, a shaft of light broke through the clouds and Harvard's prayers were answered.

Harvard captain Jeff Parker yesterday described the miracle that followed: "I don't think we would have caught them, but then our cox yelled 'They caught a crab' and a few strokes later he said 'they still haven't started.' Before I knew it we were pulling even with them with 20 strokes to go."

Dartmouth took an unusually long time to regroup after the crab, and the fast-finishing Crimson won by a nose (6:18) with MIT finishing about two lengths back (6:22)

Dartmouth must have had an inkling of what would happen when their J.V. crew "lost the five man into the drink," as Higginson put it. They were also leading at the time of this crab but the Crimson was able to win easily in 6:22, 13 seconds ahead of MIT.

Things were no better for Dartmouth's third varsity shell. They misjudged the finish line, allowing the Harvard 3V to nip them at the real finish, 6:35.0-6:35.1.

Nothing that Dartmouth was extremely late to the start of each race, Higginson said yesterday that the outcomes "merely prove the existence of the great referee in the sky."

Whoever you are up there, can you try to make it down to Annapolis for next week's meet?