Coach Tom Bolles and his shipload of able seamen will be out to set a record for successive victories over the Blue when the Harvard Varsity shell matches strokes with Yale tomorrow on the Thames River in New London, in the 88th meeting between the two colleges.
Never has either of the rivals been able to beat the other four times in succession, and this week's race may provide Harvard with the chance to send the custom down the drain, for the Crimson crew, under the able tutelage of Bolles, has run its streak of consecutive defeats of the Blue to three.
Yale Slightly Over-Rated
The possibility that the Bollesmen can sink the Elis and thus set a precedent is great, with an experienced, smoothly working eight pulling the Crimson-tipped oars this spring. The paper odds that quote Yale a slight favorite on the strength of its spotless record should prove a help to the Crimson, for the Elis do not deserve their top-dog rating, and the psychological effect on Harvard should be an asset.
The big point of comparison between the two crews seems to be their respective performances against Cornell and Syracuse. While the Ithacans trailed the Blue by a length, they beat Harvard at Cayuga; and Syracuse tied the Ballesman is the Cayuge race after losing to Yale.
The only significance that should be attached to the combination comic opera and hurricane at Ithaca is that it provides a good taking point on which to build up the chances of an unproved Eli eight. Only Fred Cross of the starting Blue osarsmen has ever been in a varsity four-mile race, while four Crimson sweepswingers rowed against Yale last year-and won.
One Veteran Out
Yale has done well against its opponents this spring, but the times of the Harvard crew have been consistently as good or better. The fact that Charley Ruprecht, regular number six man in the Blue boat and only other oarsman with varsity four-mile experience, will be unable to row, is going to make Yale even more of a question mark than ever. His place has been taken by George Vietor.
The Eli boatload seems to have one important handicap. They have in the past found it hard to turn on the power with a low stroke. In their nip-and-tuck race with Cornell they were unable to lower the beat to a thirty-four.
Crimson Sub-Eights Favored
The race for the sub-varsity eights should be in favor of the Harvard boats. Coach Ed Leader has had to concentrate too much on the Blue varsity to turn out a strong jayvee outfit, and the Harvard Freshman and Comby crews are also favored.
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