Harvard, Radcliffe Crews Top Yale in The Race

The Harvard varsity heavyweights found themselves easy winners in the 111th Harvard-Yale regatta Saturday on the Thames River in New London, Conn.

The heavies won the four-mile race by 64 seconds, crossing the finish line in 23:43.9. It was the 14th consecutive time Harvard has taken the race, the oldest intercollegiate athletic event in America.

Yale stayed with the Crimson for almost two miles, but then the heavies moved away, capping off their undefeated season with their largest margin of the year.

"We expected them to try to stick with us. Traditionally, they've always tried to throw everything in at the beginning. But they paid for it at the two-mile mark," said senior stroke Olle Scholle yesterday.

There, the Crimson found some calm water to work in, and moved right out on the Elis with a series of power tens.

"They had one of their best crews in recent years, and they were certainly keyed up for this race. But...," Scholle said.

"At the two-mile mark we sort of sensed that Yale was dying. We've got an aggressive bunch of guys in the boat and we just climbed on them at that point,"

"There was a feeling of revenge after our J.V. lost, and after all their talk earlier in the season that this was the year they would finally beat Harvard," Kemp added.

In the three-mile junior varsity contest, the Crimson took a half-length lead early in the race and tenaciously held onto it for the first half-mile. But then the Elis came back, and moved into a length's lead of their own by the mile mark. They never relinquished their margin, finishing nine seconds ahead of the Crimson.

Last weekend at the Sprints, Harvard placed fifth, one second ahead of the same Yale crew.

In the third varsity race, the Crimson jumped out to a deck length's lead, and kept it for half a mile. There, Yale began to move and established a length lead, a margin which they were able to hold onto until the finish.

"There were times when we'd thought we'd row right through them, but we didn't. They just beat us," bowman Mike Loucks said yesterday.

Crew: Oarspeople in town this summer wishing to row in an eight, please call Bob, 8-7356, or Jim, 661-8269. (29)