Boat Races

At Poughkeepsie. Washington or California almost always has the best college crew in the U. S. They have to go East to prove it. Last week, after Washington's junior varsity and freshmen had beaten the East's best, seven varsities pulled out on the calm Hudson to row four miles down stream. Of the Eastern crews--Columbia, Cornell, Navy, Penn and Syracuse--Cornell, heaviest in the race, looked best, but the two Westerners were favorites. In their own regatta, at Seattle last April, Washington had beaten California by three lengths but that was at three miles. California had a precedent to uphold. Its crews were Poughkeepsie winners "and Olympic champions in 1928 and 1932.

Dutchess County farmers, watching from the plateau on the East side of the river, saw Navy jump off to a quick start, then yield the lead to California. Urchins in rowboats at the two-mile mark saw Navy and California battling for the lead with Columbia third. The yacht flotilla at the finish shrieked wildly as the first shell slid across the line. It was Washington's-- whose smart Coxswain Bob Moch had timed a long sprint perfectly through the last mile--with California a length and a half behind, Navy third, and a boatload of Columbia sophomores fourth.

At New London, Yale's earnest Coach Ed Leader, puzzled when his junior varsity beat the varsity by three lengths in a trial race fortnight ago, had desperately switched crews, demoting all but two varsity oarsmen nd putting jayvees in their places. Harvard's amiable Coach Charles Whiteside had commented mildly on a lack of interest. His men, he said, came late to practice. The race reversed this situation. At the finish, Yale's varsity came in six lengths behind a smooth rowing Harvard boat whose time of 20:19 for four miles was within five seconds of the upstream course record. Promptly after Harvard had won its fourth race on the Thames in seven years, Coach Whiteside was told that he was fired.

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