Criticism of Freshman Crews

The Freshman trial races which were to take place today have been postponed till Thursday or Friday. A summary of the work of the Freshman crews follows:

The Weld crews were the last to get on the water after the machine work in the Gymnasium, but were the first to begin cutting down their men. In the division of men the Weld was especially fortunate in securing the pick of those who rowed with the fall crew which won the fall regatta. The first crew was formed as soon as the men went on the water and has rowed in much the same order throughout the season. E. B. Roberts at stroke is a promising man and has had considerable experience in rowing, having stroked the winning interscholastic crew last year and the winning fall Freshman eight. He is light but has the power, endurance and life to row a strong race. George at 7 is clumsy and tends to slug when he is tired, but is a powerful man and has clean watermanship. Whitwell at 6 has held his place throughout the season and shown steady improvement; he is heavy but has the strength to pull his weight. Graydon, No. 5, is one of the smoothest and most powerful oars in the boat; he rowed last year at St. Paul's in the Shattuck crew. Switzer and Bent at 4 and 3 worked their way up from lower crews and have shown much improvement. Derby, No. 2 and captain of the crew is a little awkward and does not get in his power in a very effective way and Hartwell at bow is a bit unsteady in watermanship, but like the other men in the boat both have shown much improvement since the beginning of the season. The second Weld crew is very nearly on a level with the first and should give them a hard race. Greenough at stroke is one of the best men now on the river.

The Newell crews were delayed in their work after getting on the water by lack of shells. Their early practice was entirely in barges and they seem to have profited by it. The first boat has at stroke Boardman, who rowed last year on the winning interscholastic crew; he has come up lately from the third crew during the illness of Pier and is doing promising work. Ayer at 7 rowed 3 on the Roxbury Latin crew last spring. He and McGrew at 6 are heavy and powerful men and Ayer is an especially reliable oar both in blade and body work. Swann at 5 has had some experience in rowing at Groton, but is still a little awkward, and lacks a strong finish. Burgess at 3 rowed last year on the Halcyon crew at St. Paul's; he is one of the best oars in the crew, being strong and especially smooth in his work. Clark, Stone and Whitridge at 3, 2 and bow have all a tendency to clip and to be slow in their catch; they also lack power in their leg drive. Clark and Stone are new men; Whitridge rowed at Groton. As a whole the boat is well together but lacks power and is weak at the finish. The Newell second is distinctly inferior to that at the Weld, but the third is a good crew and with a little more weight would give the first a close race.