The men's heavyweight crew surged past the East's top crew, Princeton, in the Compton Cup. The exciting victory was the highlight of a heavy weekend of action on the water.

Coach Harry Parker's first boat was a distinct underdog against a Princeton crew which went undefeated in last year's regular season. Seven rowers returned, including several from the U.S. and Canadian national teams.

But all that experience was not enough to intimidate a Crimson varsity eight which continues to improve after a disappointing finish in San Diego only a few weekends ago.

The start and the sprint were the keys in the victory. "We had the best start we have had in any of our races this year, which kept us within striking distance," said junior Henry Nuzum.

Princeton took a lead of several seats out of the blocks, but Harvard recouped with a powerful final 500 meters, overtaking the Tigers.

"We were down several seats coming out of the start, but we started gaining on them right before the 1500-meter mark, which was the turning point," said Ellis, "In the final 500 meters we rowed through them and won by two seats."

The 0.4 second differential represented a small margin in what amounted to a huge victory for the Crimson crew. While this win will not send them to the top of the Eastern rankings, it vindicated a crew which had yet to perform up to its potential.

"With this race we are getting closer to where we want to be. We have been putting things together since San Diego," said John Lanken. "While we still have a lot of things to improve on, this is a big step towards fulfilling the high expectations we have for this season."

In Hanover, the lightweights beat Dartmouth andMIT handily, winning by 14 seconds over thesecond-place Big Green. Conditions were formidablewith whitecaps and heavy swells, but they poweredthrough on their way to the easy victory.

"It was a good performance for us," saidcaptain Jon Kibera, "I thought we handled theconditions well and we continued to improve, whichwas satisfying. We are where we expected to be atthis point in the season."

The Radcliffe heavyweights were not assuccessful on Saturday, falling to Dartmouth bysix seconds.

On Sunday, they fell to Brown, probably one ofthe fastest crews in the country.

"We had a tough weekend and we definitely haveour work cut out for us, said captain ErinO'Malley, "We are going to try and regroup thisweek, find some more speed and win against Yalethis weekend.