University of Virginia Library

In Choppy Water

Crew Victors In Cherry Blossom Meet

By Fred Leffel

Virginia's crew got a good idea
of just where it stands in American
intercollegiate rowing — how far it
has come in its five years of
existence and how far it has still to
go before reaching the top — in two
away regattas over spring break.

At Annapolis the Cavaliers
dropped four races to a powerful
armada from the Naval Academy,
but bounced back the next week to
take the Cherry Blossom Cup from
arch-rival Georgetown.

Things looked grim for Virginia
even before they left for Annapolis.
Four-man Norton Schlacter,
suffering from a stomach virus, had
missed two days of practice and
was still sick at race-time. On top of
this, the Cavaliers were nervous to
begin with, as the Navy race
marked the first time a Virginia
crew was rowing against a "Class
A" crew powerhouse. To make
matters worse, forty-eight hours
before the race, Oarsman magazine
came out with its annual pre-season
coaches poll and ranked Navy
among the top four squads in the
country.

Despite medium swells and
rising headwinds on the Severn,
Navy lived up to the coaches'
prediction. Understroking the
Cavaliers with a long, powerful
stroke, the midshipmen pulled
away steadily from Virginia in each
race. The margin in the JV race was
four lengths, and just over two
lengths in the varsity four event —
the closest race of the day for the
Cavaliers. Both the freshmen and
varsity eights fell by about six
lengths.

In the varsity race, Virginia kept
even with Navy through the start,
and actually poked its bow out in
front of the Middles during the first
thirty strokes. As Navy settled into
its body stroke of 32, however,
they steadily pulled away from
Virginia. Despite the loss Virginia
coach Panos Eliades was not too
disappointed. This was the best
Navy crew in over a decade, and
very possibly the best ever at
Annapolis. "They have very strong
teams up here," he coach said,
"We'll do much better next week in
the Cherry Blossom in
Washington."

With the goal of upsetting
traditional foe Georgetown thus set
before them, the oarsmen endured
a grueling week of twice-a-day
workouts over spring break in
preparation for the upcoming
contest on the Potomac.
Georgetown, which had never lost a
varsity race to Virginia, has won the
Dad Vail (small rowing college)
varsity championships two of the
past three years, and three overall
team championships in as many
years. The Cavaliers, eager to return
to Dad Vail competition after the
Navy trip, responded to the spring
break training regimen by posting
record-setting practice times.

In Washington, Virginia defeated
the Hoyas in all but one of the
races scheduled. Once again,
conditions were far from ideal, with
strong winds and choppy water
causing slow times. Nevertheless,
the freshmen rowed past the baby
Hoyas, but failed to overtake
Marietta for first-place. The JV
boat, after losing its lead on a crab,
barely missed catching Georgetown
by two seats at the finish. The
varsity, however, overcame a bad
start and a crab to take the Hoyas
by just over one-half length, in
6:01.0.