Heavies Smash Princeton In Prelude to Penn Race

Falling a half length behind at the start. Harvard's varsity heavyweight crew stormed back in the second 500 meters to gain a length lead which it managed to keep. The victory Saturday on Princeton's Lake Carnegie gave the Crimson its ninth straight Compton Cup win over Princeton and M.I.T.

Finishing ahead of the Tigers by five seconds and the Engineers by 15 seconds, the Crimson raised its record to 2-0 and set the stage for next week's showdown with Penn. The Quakers beat Princeton last week by about three seats.

Bad Start

"We had a terrible start and Princeton had the best start they've ever had," stroke Bill Hobbs said. "We were half a length down but the second five hundred was the best. I've ever been in. We were much better than last week, but it still just hasn't quite come together yet."

The entire race was rowed in a rain shower that subsided only as the crews hit the finish line. Harvard, rowing in a tailwind, reached the 1000 meter mark in three minutes, but the wind changed to a headwind and the Crimson boat finished the course in 6:12.8.

Both the JV and the freshmen boats demolished their opponents. The JV's outdistanced the field by 15 seconds and the Yardlings powered their way to a 10 second win.