Lightweights Float With Depth

The triumphs of the J.V. and freshman lightweight crews at the 1979 Eastern Sprints Championships earned Harvard its 12th consecutive Jope Cup and ended a season marred by the varsity's loss to Yale and Princeton on an optimistic note.

"There's going to be a lot of raw material for (coach) Peter Raymond to work with next year," varsity stroke Jeff Brown said after his last Crimson race.

Brown's prediction proved correct as almost two boatloads of sophomores help to fill out the four lightweight squads which meet their first tests today against Penn and Cornell at Itahca.

Yet not all the material was raw.

"There was intense competition to make varsity this year," Pasha Lakhdhir, the only three-year varsity veteran on the squad, said last week. "There are people on our third boat that others would be proud to have on their varsity."

Captain Kevin Gaut, Jeff MacMillan and Mark Worrel join Lakhdhir as returning varsity letterman, while Courty Gates, Gene Sykes and Rob Sigal have moved up from J.V. to round out the shell along with sophomores Phil Bogden and Greg Soghikian.

As a 174-lb. freshman, Bogden rowed second-boat heavyweight before shedding 15 pounds to make the lightweight crew this season.

"I haven't eaten a dessert since January 1st," Bogden said. "It doesn't hurt to look at hot fudge anymore."

Although Soghikian started coxing only a year ago, "he has a good feel for what makes a boat move," Raymond said.

Also a second-year veteran of Harvard crew, Raymond said he felt more relaxed this year although he "he had as much trouble sorting people out."

Overall, Raymond said the oarsman appear more or less equal in talent and "if the team succeeds it will be because it's a team and not because we built the squad around a few big dudes."

Raymond added that he thought last year's losses helped this year's group because "they know how much they want to win."

Returning J.V. oarsmen Tony McAuliffe, Matt Carrico and David Scheie and coxswain Alexandra Dixon already know a lot about winning and together with senior Mike Cominsky, who rowed varsity last year, Adam Bailey, Tony Kilbridge and Paul Midge, will try to defend their Eastern Sprint title.

Led by the J.V.'s 1979 bowman Grant Davis, the 3V team looks strong, as does the 4V's, which will "race against heavyweights, women's crews and anything that floats," 4V-man Woody Kaapu said.

Freshman coach Bob Leahey matched Raymond's four squads with a group of "enthusiastic and larger than usual" yardlings, he said.