Last Saturday Harvard's heavyweight crow rowed to a length win over Brown in the Stein Cup.
All this week coach Harry Parker has been dissatisfied as he rides up and down the Charles with his dog Ralph. And when Harry is upset, Ralph is surly. But even more important, Parker's mood means his varsity crew is not up to par. So, when the squad loaded the bus this morning for the trip to Princeton and tomorrow's Compton Cup, seven personnel changes or seat switches had been made in the first boat lineup in an attempt to remedy things. For the moment, Harry was happy and Ralph was home in Winchester.
At any rate, the undefeated Crimson will need to be in top form to beat a tough and improved Princeton crew, which lost by only two seats to Penn last week on its home course at Lake Carnegie.
"We just didn't feel as though the people in the boat had a certain kind of feel," Parker said before leaving yesterday. "And what we're looking for, in this new lineup, is that improved feel. As far as the campaign is concerned, I'm just expecting a tough race and I don't look at it as any kind of warm-up for Penn. We're just anxious to win."
Princeton will definitely offer the most competition to the Crimson. In the Tigers' first meet of the year, they disposed of Rutgers by four lengths and Navy by a deck. Last week on the Charles, Harvard beat the Scarlet Knights by 12.6 seconds, which equals three lengths.
The new lineup which Parker will use against the Tigers leaves senior captain and stroke Bill Hobbs the only oarsman to find himself in the same seat as he had last week. Everyone else in the boat has been shuffled or switched to the extent that the possibility of someone finding a familiar back in front of him tomorrow is now rather remote.
A newcomer to the first boat, Fred Scoggins, will row at seven, and following at six, will be sophomore Bill Mahoney, who rowed at bow last week. Lettermen Dave Mitchell and Brian Johnson, who were at seven and five in the Stein Cup, are now switched to five and four respectively.
Dave Sawyier has been moved from six to three and Jim Ehrmon has shifted to two from last week's seat four position. At bow is Fred Lane, who rowed at three against Brown. Tom Tiffany is still the cox of the varsity.
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