Eliot House re-established its claim to hegemony in House crew by stroking to a half-length victory over Kirkland and Winthrop in the annual regatta yesterday on the Charles. Kirkland nipped Winthrop in the last five strokes of the race by a one-seat edge to take second.

But it didn't make any difference in the overall House intramural competition as Winthrop captured its first Straus Trophy--Harvard's symbol of House athletic supremacy--in 34 years.

In fact, it was all over last Tuesday when Winthrop's "B" boat crushed a heavily favored Kirkland second boat by an impressive 6.5 second margin. When Leverett House failed to qualify for the first boat finals in a preliminary heat, Winthrop's Straus victory was assured.

Leverett finished second in the standings and Quincy closed third.

First in Four Sports

Crew wasn't the only sport in which Winthrop showed its strength. After jumping off to a slow start in tackle football with a tie for third, the Puritans whipped off firsts in touch football, wrestling combined basketball, and swimming.

Depth was a major factor in Winthrop's win. In its strongest winter performance ever, it grabbed seconds in hockey and squash. Third place finishes in golf, boxing, fencing, and tennis, and a fourth in track provided the points needed to push Winthrop to the top.

"What Winthrop had was tremendous balance in every sport," Floyd S. Wilson, director of Intramural Athletics, said, "and that was their secret to winning."

Winthrop did not have it as easy as it would have liked. Going into the crew competition, the Straus was still anybody's trophy. Leverett, only 38 points behind the Puritans, could have made it a much closer race. "If Leverett had done better in crew," Wilson said, "the results might have been different."

And it was in the crucial "B" boat race, that Winthrop made its strongest claim for the Straus. Coming off the line at 42 strokes per minute, the Puritans quickly opened a four seat lead, and then settled to a steady 36. Kirkland started at 35 and then led a 33 pace.

Power Tens

Unable to catch Winthrop, Kirkland resorted to power tens, but could only gain two seats. Thirty strokes from the finish Puritan cox Skip Grossman called a power ten and Winthrop crossed the line at 40 strokes per minute. The triumphant boat was clocked at 4:30.5 for the three-quarter mile course.

Wilson will present the Trophy to Winthrop Athletic Secretary Larry Hunter at a special dinner at Winthrop next Monday evening