Upstream Battle : Bruin Crew Will Face Harvard, 4 Others in Ohio

Zenon Babraj’s countrymen have a tradition of fighting gallantly against long odds.

Thaddeus Kosciusko was at the side of George Washington during the American Revolutionary War and battled all his life for Poland’s independence.

Polish cavalrymen tried to resist German tanks and dive-bombers that invaded their land to begin World War II.

Solidarity struggled for years for free elections in Poland.

Babraj (pronounced BOB-rye) is a former Polish national champion rower who in three short years as the coach of UCLA crew has hauled Bruin boats from insignificance to national prominence.

But Babraj and his varsity eight will be in deep water today, fighting against what would seem to be overwhelming strength.

The Bruins will be rowing two-time defending champion Harvard and four other top heavyweight eights in the Cincinnati Regatta, the sport’s national championships, on Lake Harsha on the Miami River.

Although UCLA won its third straight Pacific Coast rowing championship in late May, nipping Washington by .17 of a second, the Bruins finished fourth earlier this month in the Intercollegiate Rowing Assn. (IRA) Regatta at Syracuse, N.Y.

Washington is entered in today’s race, and the three other crews in the championship--Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Northeastern--finished 1-2-3 ahead of the Bruins in the IRA final June 3.

If past performance is an indication, Harvard should win its third straight national title today, and UCLA should finish fifth in the standard intercollegiate 2,000-meter race--a whisker ahead of Washington.

But Babraj, whose varsity finished fourth in the 1987 nationals and sixth last year, believes that Harvard will have its hands full of something besides oars today.

He said that in his crew’s previous two trips to the nationals, there were faster crews on the East Coast that didn’t make it to the national final.

“This year, these boats are the best in the country,” he said. “We can be in the fight, and there are a lot of boats that can give Harvard a tough time.”

Still, he added, “This is a very outstanding Harvard boat, and it will be a very difficult task for anyone to beat them.”

One boat in today’s race has beaten Harvard this year, and another came close. The Crimson lost only to Northeastern and just nipped Penn in dual competition.

Last week, Harvard tuned up for the nationals by easily defeating Yale in what is known back East as “the Boat Race.” Harvard beat Yale by 38 seconds in the four-mile race, turning in a time of 19 minutes 15.3 seconds, the third-best clocking ever in the marathon event of crew.

Harvard now leads the series with the Bulldogs, 73-51, in a rivalry that dates to their first race, in 1852 on Lake Winnipesaukee, in New Hampshire. In that first intercollegiate athletic competition of any kind in the United States, Harvard started off the long rivalry with a victory.

Harvard has long been a rowing power, but under Coach Harry Parker, a former Penn oarsman and Pan American Games singles sculling champion, the Crimson has become nearly invulnerable. Parker’s record at Harvard is 109-18 in 27 seasons, and his crews have won 16 Eastern Sprints championships--symbolic of Eastern supremacy--and four national titles in the 1980s, including the last two.

He is also 23-4 against Yale, including 18 consecutive victories from 1963 to 1980.

The heart of Parker’s shell this year has consisted of No. 6 oar Jack Rusher, No. 7 Philipp Schuller, a native of West Germany, and No. 8, the stroke, John Amory. The three have been pulling together on the varsity eight--and at the same positions--for three straight years, including the last two national championship crews. Rusher was the youngest oarsman on the U.S. eight that won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics.

Babraj has four oarsmen who have each been on the varsity for at least three years, junior Stefanos Volianitis of Greece at No. 2 and seniors Teo Bielefeld at No. 6, Mike Stralka at No. 5 and Mike Farrell at stroke.

But Babraj is without his best rower from the last two years, 6-foot-7, 225-pound senior Craig Webster, who was ineligible this season. He said that the crew’s rhythm used to revolve around Webster.

The UCLA coach said that in the absence of Webster, who rowed at No. 5, he has tended to rely on senior Marc Batchelder, who moved from No. 1, the bow, last season to No. 7, and on Stralka, No. 3 Simon Outhwaite, a senior in his first varsity year, and sophomore bow Brad Marquardt.

Babraj said that he has not tried to replace Webster with four crewmen but that there is “a certain concept about rhythm. When one guy drops out it’s like a new boat. It’s simply a new boat and everyone’s valuable.”

Other Bruin crewmen are senior Eric Kowal, a member of the junior varsity last year, at No. 4 and junior coxswain Ace Thayer.

Batchelder, Farrell, Stralka and Kowal were named first-team All-Pacific 10 this season, and Babraj was selected as conference coach of the year for the the third straight season.

The UCLA alternates at Cincinnati are senior Brad Wieners and sophomore Greg LeSage, who were each on the Bruin four with coxswain shell that finished second to Navy at the IRA regatta.

Parker knows UCLA and Babraj by more than just reputation. Last year, the Crimson handed UCLA its only loss of the regular season at the Redwood Shores regatta in Northern California.

“We raced them once last year, and they raced very hard,” said the Harvard coach. “It was quite clear that they were a very good crew. There was no question whatsoever about that.”

Babraj thinks so too, but he also thinks that Harvard is the clear favorite. Nevertheless, he said, “We will try to do the impossible; it’s fun.”