Harvard Crews Leave Opponents in Their Wake

Shake and bake.

That's what master chef John Higginson did to his lightweight crew squad, and the result--a nine second basting of Navy in the Haines Cup--was just what the Crimson faithful ordered for a scrumptious Saturday morning along the banks of the Charles.

"Coach Higginson deserves a lot of credit for the moves he made this week," coxswain Peter Cordeiro said. "By switching the bow group he turned everything around," the 110-pounder said.

Up until Saturday's smooth, authoritative row, you would have needed a scorecard and then some to unscramble the dogfight for varsity berths among the top 16. A perplexed Higginson tried mixing various combinations for his defending Eastern Spring bout. But the filet mignon of lightweight crews kept on coming out of the Newell oven like an Elsie-Burger, losing to Rutgers while just edging MIT at the wire.

Something to Hoot About

Higginson decided to reinstate veteran senior Kevin Cunningham at stroke while sliding in towheaded junior Jim Russell at the pivotal seven seat. "Jim's a smooth oarsman whose style complements the strength in our boat," Cordeiro said.

Add a dash of seniors, Karl Forsgaard and captain John Pickering at six and fix; mix in junior Jeff Cooley at four, and stir in cocky senior Bill Chapman and Donald Harting up front, with sophomore bow Pasha Lakhdir for good measure, and the ingredients for another crown are in the basin.

Harvard got off to a fast start, copping a four-seat lead at 500 meters before Navy made its bid as the boats headed for the bridge. The Middies cut the Crimson margin in half before the hosts decided to put it in high gear. A power-20 at the 1000-meter mark left the Middies lagging a length back before Harvard slammed the door with a second spring down the final stretch to win by two lengths (6:35 to 6:44).

The junior varsity remained undefeated with a 17-second thrashing of Navy, crossing the finish stripe in 6:46. Ironically, this eight (cox Carlos Cordeiro, stroke Jeff Brown, Tony McAuliffe, Kevin Gaut, Mark Worrell, Gene Sykes, Randy Vagelos, Mike Cominsky and bow Jeff Rubin) finds itself in a league of its own in J.V. competition.

But then again, so is Harvard.