"Without a doubt it was the greatest fall freshman race we've ever had," commented fresh heavyweight crew coach Ted Washburn after watching his five boats battle up the Charles for 200 meters yesterday morning.

"They looked pretty good together, and I think our new approach this year is working out well," he added, explaining that this fall the freshman crew program has been revised with an eye to combining "a recreative approach and an undefeated season."

Freshman crew in years past has included long hours of closely supervised training both on and off the water. "This year we've strictly limited it to one hour on the water, and suggested that the oarsmen work out no more than half an hour on their own. We've had very few team conditioning drills," says Washburn.

Close Race

Wednesday's race began in the Basin with a standard racing start, and continued fairly competitively all the way. The boats were chosen to be as equal as possible, and they worked out as units for only a week.

The winning boat crossed the line in 6:52, five seconds ahead of the runner-up. Third and fourth-place boats exchanged places four times during the race, and the last boat was not too far back, Washburn said. None of the strokes raised the cadence above 24 strokes per minute.

Last year at this time, there were only two freshman heavyweight boats still out, and Washburn has been forced to bolster his coaching staff to handle this season's overflow. Charlie Hamlin has been working as the assistant coach, to provide more personal attention for each oarsman.

The winning boat, coxed by Dave Wineberg, included Dave Tew, Dave Fellows, Rick Wilson, Ross McConnell, Phil Sancken, Jim Evarets, Phil Harris, and Chuck Czeisler. They jumped out to a short lead early in the race, and held on for the distance to claim the silver trophy and champagne.

The freshman lightweights, now coached by ex-varsity coach Bo Anderson, have scheduled their fall race for November 20.