Harvard crew coach John Higginson has a sign hanging over the door of his lightweight oarsmen's locker room which reads, "Please don't feed the oarsmen." The sign serves two purposes. First, it reminds the rowers to stay under the prohibitory 160 pound limit and second it keeps the crew sufficiently hungry from race to race that come each weekend the Crimson lights go out and feast on whatever unsuspecting boats come their way.
Well, the grande bouffe for Higginson's hungry charges will be served up this Sunday on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, N.J., as a 12-crew course of oarsmen will be on hand for the annual running of the Eastern Sprints.
Higginson's admonition has proven to be a winning recipe, as Harvard's varsity has walked away with the laurels seven of the last eight years and the lightweights have won the overall title, or the Jope Cup, for the last eight years.
Digest of Victories
This year the menu looks just as tantalizing and the chance of the Crimson dominating the Sprints just as likely. The two crews which hope to outrow Harvard for a taste of the title are Penn and Dartmouth. The latter has already fallen to the bite of the lightweight's oars.
"We're most worried about Penn because we haven't raced them and they're undefeated," captain Ned Reynolds said, "but every year it's been someone else who's surprised us."
This time around there shouldn't be many surprises however, as the senior-studded varsity boat is keying very hard on going out a winner. In fact, save seven man Todd Howard who was a victim of Princeton's cinderella year in 1973, none of the varsity members has every lost a race at the Sprints.
"Even if we are heavy favorites it's still the race we've been peaking for--it's our race," Reynolds said, and "I know I'm going to go out with everything I've got."
On the Half-Shell
In the J.V. ranks the feast looks just as appetizing with a boatful of Quakers and a shellful of Midshipmen shaping up to be the prime upset contenders for the Crimson.
"It's hard to see how we'll lose," bowman Andy Quigley said. "We've beaten everybody we've faced and coparative margins with those we haven't raced give us the edge."
Can't Stomach Defeat
The only race in which the lightweights aren't heavily favored is in the freshman division, where a surprise Yale crew and the host Tiger yardlings should be battling it out for the title.
If tradition means anything the Crimson lightweights should be rowing away from Princeton with a full wardrobe of racing shirts, but as varsity six man Gil Welch said, "You're never sure you'll win until you go over the finish line first, but I like to think in terms of probabilities, and I'd bet on us no matter what the odds."
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