What football is to Notre Dame, crew is to Wellesley. Most everyone goes out for it, and the college claims the oldest woman's crew in the country.

Today is not only Tree Day; what's more important, it's the biggest regatta day of the year. Chaos breaks loose at about 4 p.m. when the four class crews take their marks at Tupelo Point. They are judged individually on form, next on the racing start, and then on actually winning the race.

In all good sportsmanship afterward, the crews form a "W," if you can wait around for awhile. Don't panic when they try to lift their oars in salute. Those are barges, not shells. There's even been talk of holding the sophomore prom in one of them.

This is the biggest crew event, not the only. Under the coaching of Miss Evelyn Kathryn Dillon, effectionately known as "Nails" by her pupils, interdormitory and informal competitions go on constantly.

Jesse Turtelotte has been a fixture of Wellesley crew a lot longer than seven years. He's been taking Waban boats in and out of the water for thirty-four years now. But at the age of close to 70, he's had to leave off for awhile because of a heart attack.

No one could frighten an inexperienced freshman more than old Jess with his swearing like a trooper, even at Miss Dillon. He could also point out to them that only two freshmen crews have ever won the big race, in 1947 and last year.

Crew started even long before Jess. Founder Henry Durant felt it was "Attractive and beneficial to the girls' health." But the first crews' chief function, other than mastering the elementary principles of rowing, lay in entertaining distinguished visitors. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once took a spin on Lake Waban; it is said he never came back to Wellesley.

Luckily, the loose-fitting black bloomers of bygone days have yielded to the present more form-fitting jobs. It makes crew as a spectator sport so much more enjoyable

THE BOATINGS--Seniors: Barbara Bowen, bow; Janet Meekins, 2; Blair Fleming, 3; Loulou Glasscock, 4; Sally Blair, 5; Polly Taylor, 6; Grethen Frudden, 7; Eleanor Torstenson 8; Betty Gilbert, cox

Juniors: Rally Roush, bow; Bernadette Prince, 2; Marry Jane Gorton, 3; Martha Church, 4; Peggy Ker, 5; Jean Summers, 6; Virginia Stullken, 7; Wendy Altschul, 8; Ann Barriger, cox.

Sophomores: Carol Mosher, bow; Nancy Strout, 2; Elizabeth Raushkolb, 3; Joan Voss, 4; Ann Lacy, 5; Lorine Anderson 6; Ray McLean, 7; Barbara Flood, 8; Mary, Clay, cox.

Freshmen: Carol Craven, bow; Francis Thoburn, 2; Judy humway, 3; Ann Farnham, 4; Ann Bruch, 5; Virginia Emergy, 6; Elizabeth Taggart, 7; Anna McCann, 8; Francis Lawrence, cox.

Honorary varsity boat: All seniors except Jean Voss '53, 4; and Lorine Anderson '53, 6.

Judges: Ruth Elliott, referee; Jessie Godfrey, at the bell; Gwenyth Rome, counting for the knockdowns.