Hollingsworth began his rowing career at the Brooks School in North Andover, Mass. While this experience helped him somewhat, the Economics concentrator says he noticed a "big difference between high school and college... not just that we had rowed in fours and here we have fours and eights, but the whole style and attitude."

The Kirkland House resident had played football and wrestled, but once at Harvard, he devoted himself to crew, Why?

"I'm constantly asked, 'Why do you do it, why do you do these apparently crazy things all for a few six-minute races in the spring?' It's a difficult question--there's little glory involved, no crowds, no individual stars."

His answer: "Crew is more than just participating in a sport. It gives you a certain toughness an attitude that you can apply to everything."

McDougall agrees that crew means a great deal more to him than just rowing. He describes it as "a focal point," a "source of solidarity."

"As you get more involved, it takes up more and more of your interest and time," says the English major. "looking back at pictures from the 1800s, you realize the tradition and it's easy to get caught up in it."

McDougall began rowing "on a whim" during his senior year at St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia. The former basketball player soon decided crew was "the sport to go with" and pursued it in a post-graduate year at the Kent School in Connecticut.

The strength and tradition of Harvard rowing attracted him over that of other Ivy League schools. He speaks of a certain "Harvard style" in crew. "It's very fluid, you try to remove and check or hesitation in your stride."

He adds that Parker's method has been so successful that "every college in the country will follow Harvard...There's nothing covert or hidden, but it's hard to figure out why it works."

One preliminary indication of whether and how the Hollingsworth-McDougall combination will work this season is tomorrow's Head of the Charles regatta.

Although both captains stress that the race provides a more recreational than competitive function, they do hope to do well.

"The Head is an opportunity to show our stuff," McDougall says, "and I think we will."