New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-06-19
CORNELL MAY REPEAT
IthaCanS' Three Good Crews May
Sweep River Again.
PENN. VARSITY IMPROVES
Intercollegiate Regatta Races
Promise To Be Close
Columbia Strong.
tBy Telegraph TO The Tribune. ]

I
in the intercollegiate regatta on the Hudson
next Saturday will bring to an end five
solid months of earnest training for five
college crews and incidentally decide the
college rowing championship for 1910 Cor
nell has already soundly trounced Harvard,
and Wisconsin has victory over the crew
of the University of Washington TO it's
credit Harvard defeated the Navy, al
though il was a different crew of midship-
men that later turned around and outrowed
both Columbia and Syracuse In two-mile
races.
The bad weather of the present spring
will probably leave its mark on the per-
formances of the various crews next week,
for not one of the boats which compete has
had anything like the favorable weather of
former years in which to train for the re-
gatta Even since coming to Poughkeepsie
where it is invariably hot or at least warm
late in June. the crews this year have found
as wet and disagreed BILE weather as they had
on their home waters. Therefore, it may
not be awry to predict that the crews this
year will not be In as good condition as the
crews that have taken part in the regattas
of former springs.
Cornell is the only college that has had
anything like a full period of training, for
the Ithacans came to the Hudson with
three solid months of rowing on water
back of them. The Cornell crews had their
first practice in the shells on March ., al
most three weeks before any of the other
Hudson crews had a chance to get out and
about six weeks before the younger Ten
Eyck could get his Wisconsin crews on the
cold waters of Mendoza Lake, Syracuse
had n wait until
free of ice and Columbia was also long
time in getting out for a similar reason.
Judging from past performances Cornell
| has undoubtedly had the best season of all
of the crews. and for that reason there is
little wonder that for two months it has
been touted having the winning crew in
this years regatta. 1t is open secret
that with six veterans in the shell the Itha-
cans expect to duplicate their victory of
last season in the varsity race and also
to win the other two races. But observa-
ton of the Cornell varsity crew shows that
it is not powerful combination as the
one which swept to so decisive victory
| last July. The men do not get in as long
swing, something that is probably due
to the change Of stroke oars.
Last year 81 Weed. who stroked the Cor
nell eight, was almost as big as any other
IId4l III the DO6Cv DuI Bowen, stroke of the
present Cornell crew, is a slenderly built
fellow, weighing only 15s pounds. and con-
sequently 1t is not strange that he rows
with more snap but with a sacrifice of some
of the length of the swing that has made
| Cornell crews famous in the past The
crew is the heaviest on the river, avera ging
| 172az pounds. to 1861 for Columbia 1882 for
| Syracuse, 1885 for Pennsylvania and 167
for Wisconsin. In age, too the Ithacans
| are at the top. averaging % S-16 years
Syracuse is not far behind, however, with
23Is years, while Wisconsin is third with
22s8 years. Columbia, which has the light
est crew on the river, averages 21ss years
and Pennsylvania, which has next to .e
heaviest varsity combination, averages tie
youngest in age. 201a years. exactly the
same as the Syracuse freshmen.
| Although, apparently, having all the
| physical advantages except that of height
| the Cornell crew does not row well or
rather the crew is not pretty looking one
TO watch. There is bad break In the boat
at No 6, where Day rows, and all through
the shell ii is noticeable that there is an at
tempt to shorten the stroke especially
when the count gets much above thirty
That is natural in all crews, but Cornell
crews In the past have been able to get in
plenty of swing even when the stroke was
moderately high. In races with the fresh
men the youngsters have been almost in
variably able to do better work than their
seniors. A. as-
| Columbia's varsity crew has had more
| real hard rowing than any other on the
| river since its arrival at Poughkeepsie and
| the New Workers are in fair condition. 1t
seems to be another year where the race
| will be between Cornell and Columbia Cor
/ nell is not strong as a year ago, while
| the New York crew, still an uncertain
| quantity, does not seem TO be as strong as
| the Blue and White eight of 1909 Four of
| the men are veterans of last years eight
| but C1app is an entirely new man at stroke.
| Since its defeat at the hands of Annapolis
| the crew has passed through several up
! heavals the most serious of which occurred
| at Poughkeepsie, when the stroke, Murphy,
| and Culman and Dellenbaugh. and L. re-
| spectivey. were taken out C1app went
! from the second eight TO stroke the first,
| while Saunders moved from 6 to T. Pitt
/ shifted from the second boat to in the
| first, and Downing stroke of last years
| freshman crew, got the vacant place at 6.
The crew, therefore, is practically a new
| eight. In practice il can hold the fresh
/ man crew with ease The men row with
the characteristic Rice free and long
| stroke, with hard drive at the end of the
| pull. The boat shoots through the water
well. The crew shows no faults SO distinct
| as does Cornell. Downing. at s. is little
| weak, but the port side of the shell does
rot suffer in comparison with the star
/ board, and the whole crew seems to be
pretty well balanced. AS a result the shell
| travels along a very even keel. with no
| apparent rolling
oar the river, but he has mastered
Rice's stroke and keeps it long and even.
| He Is able to shoot 1t up however as high
| as desired. and in this respect is like
! Cerussi. who stroked the Columbia eight
| back in 1907 and 1908 From the week or
more that Clapp has been in at stroke Il is
1 safe to say that Rice made no mistake in
selecting him for Murphy's place. One
| feature of the Columbia crews rowing dis
| tinguishes Ii from every other one on the
| river. The men swing back very far and
| finish up with a hard. clean drive that
sends the boat along between strokes with
out the slightest sign of checking.
| The Salt City crew this year does not
| seem to be one of those powerful combi-
nations that Ten Eyck has sent down oc-
| casionally and little attention has been
| paid to the Syracusans. The men run to
| extremes In weight and general physique
| These discrepancies do not naturally tend
| to evenness In the workmanship of the
crew, and there seems to be a general fall
he a WING af -,