Freshman Heavies Shine; Lightweights Race Today

While a strong Freshman heavy-weight crew remains inactive until April 25, the freshman lightweights will enter the lists this afternoon against Cornell and M.I.T. in their first race of the season.

At this point in the spring the season prospects of the lightweights are very much in doubt. Handicapped by a late start on the river, they have not yet attained their potential, and the first boat, according to coach Laury Coolidge, is by no means set.

Both the heavies and lightweights were forced to cancel two-thirds of the normal number of days spent on the river before vacation. The result of the late winter ice, the fifteen extra days in the tank have set the crews two weeks behind the majority of their opponents.

The coaches feel that a freshman crew must row 300 miles before it begins to reach its potential, and that they must row this distance before their first race. At the present time the Freshman have only logged 225 miles, and rowing an average of forty a week the lightweights should have a fortnight of practice before their first competition. Unfortunately it comes today.

Though slighted on practice time the lightweights' prospects are not as bad as they would seem. The first boat, set at least for today's race, has recorded some good times considering the late conditions. Stroked by Tom Alberg, the eight clocked the mile and a sixteenth upstream course in seven minutes, four seconds on Wednesday.

A shell should be able to break seven minutes for the distance, but Coolidge feels that the first boat can do this in the near future. The boat has rowed with its present combination for only a week, as Alberg moved up from the second boat on Monday, with Bruce Konrad switching to the sixth seat.

The shell has good power, and in time can expect to enter its races with confidence. Coolidge states, however, that the eight needs considerable improvement on its blade work, and that "though the boys are strong they are not rowing well together."

The lightweights enter today's race with one compensation. Cornell has also been forced to cancel two weeks of river work, and is consequently at a comparable stage of development. Like all un-untried freshmen opponents, Cornell and M.I.T. are unknown quantities.

Neither has raced this spring, and the strength of their personel obviously cannot be determined from the previous year. M.I.T. though, is always a threat, and four years ago they had two lightweight crews which won at Henley.

The second eight, now a length slower than the first will race this morning. Coolidge, stressing the impossibility of making any close prediction about a Freshman race, does feel that the lightweights can hope for "a good showing."

This is Coolidge's first year as coach of the lightweights. Graduating from Harvard last spring he distinguished himself by winning the Darcy Cup race for the University senior singles sculls championship.

The Freshman heavies, though also hindered by a late start, have shown great potential. On Tuesday, in a mile and three quarters race against the varsity and JV boats, the first Freshman boat finished only a length behind the JV's.

Tuesday's time was the first promising one for the first eight, but last year's undefeated Freshmen did not surpass it until two weeks later in the spring. Coach Bill Leavitt feels that a winning boat must be able to finish a race with a forty stroke per minute cadence. In Tuesday's race the first eight finished at a 34, and had they been able to push up the stroke they could have beaten the JVs.

The shell is a big one, averaging 184 pounds and 6 ft., 3 in. Stroke John Donald and number two Art Holcombe are the only men who have had no previous experience in a shell, and after a fall of rowing this is no longer a disadvantage.

With two more weeks to correct their sprints and polish their bladework, the boat will be ready to show its mettle against Syracuse, M.I.T., and B.U. It could be a pleasant day for Leavitt.