The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-06-27
YALE By FOUR LENGTHS.
Defeats Fastest Eight Harvard Has
Ever Produced

Ever Produced
New London. June Throwing within |
ten seconds Of record time. the Yale |
varsity crew late Thursday afternoon /
lowered the colors of the fastest eight |
that Harvard has yet produced. Yale |
won by four boat lengths. YaleS time |
was 1920, Harvards 20:33. In the four |
cared race the cOlOrs Of Harvard were
borne to the front. The Cambridge four /
won by two and a half lengths
IN the freshman race, Yale's crew led /
over the last mile until within few feet /
of the finish. where the Harvard crew.
by a magnificent squirt jumped their
shell up even with the Blues. The judges
were compelled to decide that the race
was a draw.
Twenty thousand people saw the
Ellis row to victory in the big varsity
yale was a trife slow in leaving her
boathOuse and Referee Meikleham not1-
fed the Els q second time By 6;Ol
both crews were at their stake boats.
Enthusiasm on the observation train
was SO great that the referee had to
signal to the crowd to keep quiet so that
the crews might hear the pistol shots.
At sos the pistol was fred and the two
big shells leaped away from their stake
boats. Harvard got the best of the
start and in ten strokes had the nose
of her shell a quarter of a length ahead
Of the Blues boat. The Crimsons eight
had the best water over the first quar-
ter mile and her men made all out of it
that they possibly could.
Harvard started at 36 strokes to the
minute Yale at 30. By the end of the
first half mile, Harvard had dropped her
stroke te 81, while Yale stili held hers at
81. At the half mile flag the boats
were almost even. The watches on the
referees boat recorded Yale's time for
this half mile at 2.291s, Harvard at 2.29A.
Yale had cut down Harvard's lead while
rowing from two to four less strokes to
the minute
over the next half mile the race was
a desperate struggle between two DOW
erful crews The boats zigzag eyed for
a minute and half, and then the Blues
! shell began to creep ahead. Yalereached
/ thefirst mile flag in 5:o4. two seconds
/ before Harvard The Ellis were two
1 thirds Of length ahead. Yale had
/ dropped her see~oke to 81 per minute
and Harvard had let hers down to %.
1 It had been a terrible fight, but Yale
mad nnally gotten the lead. From the
end of the first mile to the mile and a
/ half flag. the boats scarcely changed
/ positions. Harvard raised her stroke
one point and so did Yale. The Blues
/ shell finished the mile and a half in
/ 7.37, Harvard in 1884. over this dis
1 lance Yale had gained but half a sec
/ ond. On toward the two-mile flag the
/ powerful Fights swung with mechani-
| cal precision at the pace Of giants
| Harvard dropped her stroke back to 90,
| and now the two strokes swung in ex-
| act unison. but all the while the Yale
] SAciA kept creeping d UltiG DlL aQeaQ.
At the two-mile flag Yale was leading
| Harvard by four seconds. Yale's time
was 10:11, Harvard's 1915. Whistles
| and sirens at the navy yard shrieked
out welcome to the oarsmen as they
/ swung down over the half mile.
The revenue cutter Gresham. in the ex-
/ element Of the mon ent, lifted her
/ anchor and started to follow the crews
/ despite the entreaties of the referee and
| regatta committee to keep back. Yale
eased up bit on her stroke and drop
ped it down to 81. Harvard seeing Yale
relax jumped hers I'D to "a But des-
second between the two-mile and two
and a half-mile flag. Yale's time for
the two and a half miles was 12:12
over the next half mile the blues crew
picked UP just another second in the
struggle for supremacy. At the three
mile Yale led by two good lengths, her
time being 1910 and Harvard's 1916.
Then Yale raised her stroke up to 80
and Harvard in a desperate effort to
hold her own kept hers at a. There
was very little difference in the power
IN the Two boats. but between the two
strokes there was a decided difference
Yale did her work with more ease than
Harvard and this was especially true Of
the beginning of the stroke. The Har-
! ward men 1ammed their oars into the
water while Yale's went In smoothly
but firmly. Yale reached a little farther
back on the catch than Harvard an6
} chopped her stroke of a little quicker
at tie finish
Harvard.s stroke was more exhaust.
ing than Xale's.
The crews entered the long avenue 0,
yachts in grand style. Harvard's cox
swain dashed a little water in the fac,
of McGraw who was rowing I'D to tn,
limit Of his power. Although there wa
stin another mile to go it was nor
plain that Yale had more strength lef
than Harvard and that debarrinE al
accident the victory would be for tn
blue. Little by little Yale increased. he
. lead until at the three and a half mill
flag she was nine full seconds ahead o
Harvard. which means practically tire
full boat lengths. Yale's time was I7:4t
, | Harvard's 17.49
! It was now a squirt for the last hal
| mile OF the race Yale raised her strok
/ to th1rty-three and then to thirty-folir
! / Harvard held at thirty-fOur for a min
s ute but had to drop 1t at last to thirty
: two The Harvard coxsWain made a ba,
: mess Of his steering over this last mile o
( the race. Long before the crews reache,
the three and half mile flag It was an
p parent that Jackson steered his eight al
most squarely into the flag post. so tina
the oars banged against it and the boa
? lost the benefit Of two or three seconds o
time Harvard was plucky despite tn
fact that she was far behind. and gradu
ally her men struck their pace again an