Oarswomen Speed Past Dartmouth

They say the hardest races to win are the ones you look past. Slower squads can sometimes upset a more powerful opponent who isn't concentrating on the race at hand.

If that old adage is true, then the Harvard women's heavyweight crew was a prime upset candidate yesterday in Hanover against Dartmouth.

It was the last tuneup for the Black and White before tomorrow's challenging Redwood Shores Regatta in California, in which Harvard will race against some of the best crews in the nation. And the Black and White was the heavy favorite over the Big Green crew.

Shoe-In

But instead of looking past the Dartmouth crew, the Harvard flew past it on the way to a speedy seven-second victory. The margin of victory was especially impressive when you consider that the Big Green crew was rowing at a faster pace than the Black and White.

"They were racing at a cadence that was much higher than ours," Allison Pugh said. "The difference was huge. Given those circumstances, a seven-second win was very good."

The win preserves Harvard's undefeated record going into tomorrow's Regatta. The heavies are 3-0 in Regattas, and have beaten 5 other crews.

"Every win is a step in the right direction," said coxswain Leigh Weiss.

In California, the crew, which consisted of Weiss, stroke Juliet Thompson, Karen Weltchek, Mary McCagg, Betsy McCagg, Vicki Keane, Joanna Bench, Martha Rodgers and Pugh, will face last year's national champion, Washington, in its stiffest race of the year.

"Washington will undoubtedly be the hardest crew we've faced so far," said Weiss. "We need full fury to beat them. Perennielly, Washington turns out extremely fast crews."

If Washington is as fast this year as it has been in past years, the heavies will be in a much more challenging race than the one they had yesterday. Despite the seven-second win, the Dartmouth crew kept much closer to the Black and White than almost everyone expected. That is something the heavies will have to get used to as they head West today.

"We have to get used to rowing in closer races," Pugh said. "That's definitely what we'll need for the races in California."