Lining Them Up

With the Varsity crew sporting more than enough opponents' shirts for a change every day in the week, Harvey Love's Freshman boat has reason to be glum, for it has yet to win a race. Three times it has lost to M. I. T., and in the last race it fell before Syracuse.

Losing to two crews, and never crossing the line first doesn't mean much in this case, though, as the Yardling oarsmen have beaten Princeton twice and Cornell once. They have no kick coming about the races they have lost, either, as M. I. T.'s crew is one of the best in the East, and has consistently beaten in the time of its own Varsity.

As for the Syracuse race, which was rowed under very unfavorable conditions, the Crimson yearlings were simply "outmuscled" as Harvey Love put it. Calmer water might have helped, for then the Crimson's smoother rowing would have showed to better advantage.

Although Syracuse outpulled them, it's a mistake to think that the Yardlings are a puny bunch, for each man is over six feet, and weighs in the region of 180 pounds. Since the first race with Princeton, there has been only one change in the boatings, with Herble Church moving out of bow, and Ed Wentworth coming up from the second boat to take his place.

This is the first year that Harvey Love has not had an undefeated crew for some time, but although his record is no longer perfect, he gives this year's boat a lot of credit. They have improved a lot since the beginning of the season, he thinks, and don't fall short of past standards by very much.

No fair comparison with last year's crew at this time in the season can be made, as last year the Freshmen didn't row the mile and three-quarters. But looking back to 1938 and 1939, we find that the times were 8:58 and 9:00, while this year's best is 9:05, all of which means that the Class of '44 is only about a length and a half of two lengths slower than its predecessors.

When asked what he thought of the chances against Yale, Harvey Love went the limit and said: "They'll murder 'em," so it looks like the Freshmen are going to take out all their winnings on the Blue.

The boat that left Cambridge last Friday, when Newell Boat House broke camp and headed for Red Top, row as follows: Ed Wentworth, bow; Nick Biddle, 2; Ben Smith, 3; Mickey Michalle, 4; Sho Andrews, 5; Dick Ober, 6; Dave Sochler, 7; Charlie Chace, stroke; Norm Stearns, cox.

Besides the regular crew there are two more Freshmen in the Red Top personnel; Harborn Stuart, who fills the number two slide on Bert Haines' combination crew, and George Angle of the second Freshman, who has gone along as a spare hand in case of sickness.