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THE SPORTING SCENE

A LOOK AT CREW

After six weeks of fall workouts, the light and heavy crews are beginning to get into shape.

The lightweights, whose three-year winning streak was snapped by Navy last season, are rated a "potentially excellent crew" by coach Larry Coolidge Navy and Cornell will be the teams to best this season, and the coaches are hesitant with predictions of an undefeated season. "Accurate crew predictions are very difficult to make," Coolidge claimed, "especially in the lightweight class, where also requirements prevent one crew from being head and shoulders above another."

With only Captain Jim Miller returning from last year's first boat, the lightweights have a lot of rebuilding to do to live up to its record of four straight victories in the EARC sprints. Commenting on the season's prospects, Coolidge noted, "We've been walking a tight rope for a long, long time and nobody has pushed us off yet, though you can bet they'll be trying."

The varsity heavyweights are faced with an entirely different problem. The crew which was suddenly "veteranned" at Redtop last year has six men returning from the boat that beat Yale by more than seven lengths. Included in this list are Al Hager, John Hodges, Nick Bancroft, Larry Timson, Spen Borden, and Captain John Higginson.

The impossible problem facing coach Harvey Love is finding a good replacement for Perry Boyden. Boyden was last year's stroke and captain, and one of the great names in Harvard crew history.

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This is where Love feels, "the sophomore class is going to help us. If we get a good stroke and if the fellows work hard, we can be a very good crew." But the vacuum left after three years of crews stroked by Perry Boyden will be hard, if not impossible to fill.

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