Varsity 150 Crew Loses Squeaker To Tech; Junior Varsity, '57 Win

A desperation Crimson sprint failed by four-tenths of a second and less than a length to catch front-running M.I.T. in Saturday's 150-pound race on the wind-swept Charles River Basin. Dartmouth finished third.

The M.I.T. win avenged its loss a week earlier to this same Harvard crew. The previous Saturday, Harvard's drive nipped the Engineers in the last quarter mile.

The Crimson junior varsity and freshman crews won their races, however, with Dartmouth finishing second each time.

In the varsity race, rowed under darkening skies, M.I.T. and Harvard churned through the first mile of the mile-and-five-sixteenths course with the Technicians holding a steady three-quarters of a length lead. Both rowed a steady 32 strokes per minute.

Crimson Edges Up

With half a mile to go, stroke Keith Garland upped the beat slowly as the Crimson shell edged up on M.I.T. The crew gathered momentum as the stroke hit 39 and the gap between the two shells dropped to a matter of feet.

But the Technician crew countered the Crimson bid by raising its stroke to around 37 and slipped across the line a scant six feet ahead. M.I.T.'s winning time was 6:50.6; Harvard finished in 6:51 and Dartmouth in 7:07.

The junior varsity race was run off half an hour earlier, through calmer water, after the start had been delayed by a loose stabilizing fin on Harvard's shell. But once under way the J.V. crew rowed a precision race. Stroked by Eric Oddleifson, they quickly dropped their opening 40 to 35 and then 32, where it stayed the rest of the way.

With two-thirds of a mile left, Oddliefson's shell started to move out. The beat increased gradually. Strokes were clean and the crew rowed as a right unit as it pulled up and passed the Green.

The cadence rose again to hit 36. Dartmouth sprinted but splashed considerable water. M.I.T. tired. And the Crimson shell stroked by the Tech boat house in 6:55. Dartmouth was clocked in 7:01.4, M.I.T. in 7:07.4, Yale in 7:14, and Tabor in 7:33.

The Yardling shell, never behind, outdistanced Dartmouth and Yale threats beyond the Harvard bridge marker to win by a length over a game Big Green eight. Times were: Harvard 6:57, Dartmouth 7:01, Yale 7:07, M.I.T. and Tabor 8:00.