Harvard's varsity lightweight crew powered its way to a two-and-a-half length victory--its 27th consecutive win--to cap a Biglin Bowl Regatta sweep over MIT and Dartmouth Saturday on the Connecticut River near Hanover.

It was Harvard's ninth consecutive Biglin win and marked the 16th time in the series' 19 races that the Crimson has grabbed the bowl.

The three-crew sweep by coach John Higginson's charges keeps the record for the lightweight half of Newell Boathouse completely unblemished.

In the varsity race, Harvard shot to the front by four seats, as all three crews started beating the water at a 41 stroke. By the 500 meter mark the Crimson was ahead to stay as it settled into the body of the race at a 34 cadence.

A finishing spring pushed the Crimson past the finish in 5:24.0 as compared to second-place Dartmouth's 5:34.0 clocking. The Big Green came in three-quarters of a length in front of the Engineers who posted a time of 5:37.0.

Pesky

Both the second varsity and freshman contests were much closer races. In the second varsity race, the Crimson pulled to a three-quarters-length victory over a pesky MIT eight. The Big Green was a full three lengths behind the victorious Harvard squad. Harvard posted a winning time of 5:52.0.

In the freshman race the Yarlings barely escaped a strong challence from the Engineers. Coach Richard Prentke's Crimson eked out a five-seat victory, finishing in 5:48.0 as compared to the Engineers 5:49.5 clocking. Dartmouth was never in the contest and finished far back at 6:12.0.

Harvard also took the second freshman race by two lengths over the Big Green. MIT was a very distant third. However, MIT did manage to capture the third varsity fours race over Harvard.