Evening star., 1932-07-06
BATTLE OF FIGHTS
! SHOULD Be GREAT
New Record Seems Certain
in Tests That Are to Start
Tomorrow.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.

row the contest for the
/ right to mpresent the
United States in the eight
cared crew race at the Olympic
has the makings of the most elec-
trio combat il rowing history.
$ Out of the eight crews you can
pick one top-heavy favorite, Cali
fornia, and at least three impress
Sive dark horses, Harvard, Syra-
scuSe and the Penn Athletic Club
And you have left a boatload of
proved Columbia oarsmen who are try
sing to prove that comebacks stand
chance on the water, a Yale eight
drilled by Ed Leader, which can never
be left out Of calculations; a good
Washington crew, and California sec
aond boat.
: When all these octets of sun-tanned
broadbackS start shoveling water on
Lake Quinsigamond at Worchester
Mass, the best performances ever writ
ten down for the Olympic distance of
$4,000 meters are due to be tossed into
the discard. The pity of it all is that
slowing conditions never permit these
Olympic trials to be conducted on
! ,free-for-all basis, like the Poughkeep-
sic four-mile regatta on the Hudson.
Is A Just Course.
Z a LII the coaches and oarsmen agree
la(1 that Quinsigamond is a vastly
~ more just racing course than the
tortuouS Schuylkin at Philadelphia,
where the 1924 and 1928 trials were
sheld. but even on the still water course
at Worchester the trials will be rowed
s-SY7 re
cfactory, even when the water condi-
qtions are fairly certain to be the same
for them all.
1t would take the best pair of eyes
in the country to gather in all the de-
tail of these eight crews Shoveling
water over this furious 440-of-the-
water, but how much more conclusive
such single brush would bel 1t might
pe staged at Poughkeepsie, but there
the difference is rowing conditions be-
tween the inshore and offshore lanes
Is always a matter of hot debate.
Out Of the Golden West.
CINCE early Spring the battle cry of
~ KY Ebright's Golden Bears has
been "A California crew in Cali
fornia's Olympic" California hasn't
had poor crew in a long time but
peak in Olympic years This time their
edge seems to be greater than in 1928,
although the California crew of that
year won the Poug6keepsie race in
much faster time, setting a new record,
which still stands.
When it comes to picking a winner
in these Olympic spurts, where a great
racing start means so much, and the
idea is to slam those oars through lust
cf hoT nd 1fk
possible, the details of technic aren't
so vastly important. That's why some
rowing sharpS can still see Harvard as
q possibility, although the Crimson is
bulky crew and was jumped at the start
OF its 4-mile race with Yale, winning
handily over the long distance.
The Prevailing Style.
THERE are a lot of faddists in the
4 rowing game When Dick Glendon
was winning with his Navy and Co
lumbia crews most Of the other crews
began lengthening out their body
swings. Before that the supremacy Of
the washington eights had caused a
number Of the Eastern rowing camps
60 go washington.
Now the pendulum seems to be
swinging away from the pronounced
lay-back, and the favored crews, Cali
dornia and Syracuse, hardly emphasize
fhs body swing. No display of rowing
style has caused as much comment at
Poughkeepsie in recent years as Cali
fornia's decisive victory with a pro-
Bounced arrn-wearing stroke.
And II the Golden Bears could win
with it over four miles. the general ar
&ument Is that they will be all the more
effective with it at less than two You
might even go so far as to say that
Ebright has been really pointing for the
Olympic rather than the four-mile in
tercollegiate championship, and plan
ned his style accordingly.
The Preliminary Clashes.
DACING off the chances In heats
N means throwing some very good
crews together in the very first
combats The officials seeded the best
collegiate crew, California, in the top
bracket, and the best club crew, the
Penn A. C., in the lower bracket. Incl
dentally, the challenge of the Plila-
delphia clubmen will be watched with
great interest. II is a strong boat, in
every bit as keen condition as the col
1egians, and has the benefit of great
racing experience. 1t holds the Anleri-
can, European and Canadian champion
ships
The feature race in tomorrow's card
of four races at Worcester will be the
third, between Syracuse and the Penn
a. c. The Orange is the home town
1avorite, because the Ten Eycks have
always been closely associated with row.
Ding at Quinsigamond. 1t was there
that old Jim trained Ned Ten Eyck to
n win the diamond sculls.
Syracuse was a great disappointment
at Poughkeepsie, but Ten Eyck has re-
placed lombard by Siegfried at stroke
and with redoubled determination the
Orange may be the surprise crew Of the
trials. The clubmen rowed a good race
to win from the Detroit Boat Club on
the Schuylkill on Saturday.
Harvard Has Task.
HARVARD opens the skirmishing to-
i l. morrow by meeting the Gleadon
entry, the Columbia combination
boat. The Blue and White seems to dip
a bit during the Olympic skirmishes,
lust enough to miss the honors, but
there are a lot Of great sweep swingers
in this boat with a crack sprint stroke
in Alastair MacBain. Harvard cannot
MI afford to hold back anything.
California might think about soldier
1ng because il has drawn the Princeton
grad crew for its first rival, but the
memory Of the surprise fight the Tigers
put up against California in 1928 will