Lights Lose To Rutgers

Q: What's the one thing worse than spending a chilly Saturday afternoon on the Harlem 'River' (and I use that last term loosely to describe the Big Apple's rotten cesspool)?

Harvard's lightweight crew came up with the unfortunate answer in an opening day loss to Rutgers, in a race marred by gusty winds, turbulence from the tourist-trap Circle Line sightseeing boat (can you believe people actually pay for the privilege of smelling the Harlem River?), and a lengthy delay in the start of what never became a close encounter of any kind.

Give coach John Higginson credit for prophesizing about the loss to a strong Scarlet Knight eight by 6:05.7 to 6:12.3. The veteran mentor entered the affair pessimistic about the result but optimistic about what he would glean from watching his charges under the gun.

Harvard suffered psychologically at the onset with an unusual floating, staggered start that "wasn't actually equal," according to varsity cox Carlos Cordeiro. The boat-staggering was necessitated by a sharp bend in the course, but Harvard managed nevertheless to get off to a smooth start.

Speed, however, was another story, as the pumped-up Rutgers squad outgunned the Crimson for most of the race with a wicked cadence that averaged 35 strokes and peaked at 39 thrusts.

Meanwhile, the jittery Crimson boat settled lower at 33 strokes, but nevertheless came up short on their entries and appeared rushed and harried in their haste to duel with the authoritative Knights' entry.

"The guys were a bit overanxious and not at all relaxed," Cordeiro said. The cagey coxswain tried to instill new vigor in his charges as Rutgers opened up a length lead at the 1000-meter mark.

The Scarlet Knights opened up a one and three-quarters length lead at that juncture and coasted home, while Columbia finished third, ten seconds behind the Crimson.

The most encouraging news was Harvard's awesome showing in the junior varsity contest. The jayvees demolished by ten seconds the same Knight boat that destroyed Penn's jayvees earlier in the campaign.

All of which means there may be some reshuffling down at Newell Boathouse today. Just look for the red-jacketed nail-biters crossing Memorial Drive.