Heavies Place 4th In Coast Classic

Crimson Cox Jeff Rothstein stayed dry (at least on the outside) Saturday in California and that meant trouble for the Harvard heavyweight crew. They finished fourth in a tight 2000-meter San Diego Crew Classic race that ended with the University of Washington's cox taking the traditional victory plunge.

The Huskies controlled the race from the beginning. They powered out at the start, a three-quarter length lead by the time they settled their cadence down from 40 to 36 strokes per minute.

Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and California at Berkeley tried to gnaw into the lead, but the Huskies grimly hung on. At 1500 meters the Crimson nosed ahead of California by two seats while still three-quarters of a length behind Washington. Harvard skidded to fourth again in the last 20 strokes as the Californians drove past them by two seats.

In the preliminary heat the Crimson held Washington off until the 1800-meter mark before letting them slip by, taking second rather than expend energy needed for the afternoon.

Coach Harry Parker did not seem discouraged by the fourth-place finish in the finals. "Washington is a very strong crew and we can only be encouraged that we were that close to them. We are a good ten pounds lighter than they are," he said last night.

"We have to get a little faster but it's not just technique. You can be small and strong and you can be more fit. You have to be all these to beat a bigger crew," Parker added.

Parker seemed pleased with the work of stroke senior David Boghossian, who has ousted number-two junior Gordie Gandiner, last year's stroke, from the front seat. "In the work we've done so far Boghossian has been doing a better job. He's a very fine stroke--always has been--and that he is stroke now is really no surprise," Parker said. Parker said last night he had not decided whether he would stick with the boat that raced in San Diego for the rest of the year. As it stands now, the six returnees from last year's varsity (see scoreboard) are complemented by two strongmen from last year's freshman boat-Charlie Altekruse and George Hatch.

The Crimson J.V.'s skimmed their way to second at San Diego, just over a full length behind Penn, whose J.V. and freshman crews captured the eastern sprints in Princeton last year. The J.V.'s lost ground gradually; two seats at the start, three-quarters of the length by 500 meters, open water by the finish.

Attempts to move on Washington with a power 20 at 1000 meters and an early high cadence sprint at 1500 meters were to no avail. In the last 200 meters when cox Chris Boit called for a further, last-ditch increase in the cadence his exhausted rowers could not respond.

J.V. stroke Doug Woodsaid yesterday. "Theywere a very good crew. We have no excuses. They were just faster." He went on to admit, however, "We had not had enough practice at high cadence. We had done some work at 36, but it takes a while to get your wind accustomed to that."

The Crimson now has two weeks in which to hone its technique before facing Syracuse away on April 15. In New York they will be trying to pull their annual trick of turning history upside down--sending the Orangemen fleeing like the Orangemen sent James II.