1977 - the year that wasn't, Part Three

The weather gods were kind to the Orange during the week after the trip to Boston, with unseasonably warm weather and placid conditions on Onondaga. The freshmen began the week with Coach Harrison’s dreaded Tour of the Lake, a circumnavigation of Onondaga that began with Drew loudly encouraging his second boat, proclaiming them Crimson Beaters. Thus began what was to be one of the fastest freshman Tours ever recorded as the first boat sought to erase a bit of the sting from the loss while the now-very-confident second frosh cut every turn and sought every advantage. The Tour ended with the first boat in front, and two very tired crews. Years later, stroke Art Sibley recalled that after the row, Harrison told the first boat they would be fine, they just needed to work every day to close the gap a bit at a time.

The Goes Cup was another disappointing race for the Varsity. Despite the beautiful conditions on the Cayuga Inlet and a fast start by the Orange that saw them with the lead well into the second five hundred meters, Cornell took the Cup with Syracuse nine seconds back in second and Navy trailing. The third varsity managed to take Cornell by just over a second, the freshmen and second freshman eights won convincingly, and the JV also took second, a bit more than a length behind Navy as Cornell finished third. The frosh win and the two varsity eight seconds were enough to give SU the points it needed to win the Norman Stagg Trophy for best overall performance.

Commenting after the race, Coach Sanford said: “We were rowing at altogether too high a rate during the middle of the race (36-36 ½) and it seemed as though we ran into a brick wall during the final 800 meters.”

The Orange’s next competition was Rutgers at home in Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights were going through a low period, with a thin roster and dearth of talent. Without enough athletes to enter a JV, Rutgers was clearly outclassed by the deep Syracuse crew. The Varsity won in a laugher, with Rutgers finishing more than 23 seconds behind the Orange. The first freshman race wasn’t quite as bad, although Harrison’s crew did win by just under ten seconds.