M. Crews Fall Short Of National Prizes

It was a relatively tough season for the men's crew program.

Despite a strong start in the finals of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship, the Harvard lightweight men's crew was unable to sustain its momentum, falling behind Princeton and Columbia in its pursuit of a second straight national title.

And the heavyweight men had to spend the second half of its spring season without three team members, expelled for disciplinary reasons.

Record: 6-0 (heavyweights), 5-2 (lightweights)

Coach: Harry Parker (heavyweights), Charlie Butt (lightweights)

Highlights: Lightweights place third at Nationals, second at Eastern Sprints; heavyweights place second at Eastern Sprints

Seniors: Shahm Al-Wir, Nick Edmonds, David Ellis, William Evans, Phil Kaufman, Jonathan Kibera, John Lanken, Bill Martin-Doyle, Wolf Moser, Nick Rosen, Geoffrey Sahs, Christopher Sims, Rob Walsh

Heavyweight Men

The 1998 spring season started out on April 4 at the San Diego Crew Classic. The varsity boat has claimed this title seven times, but came in fifth place this year.

The race, however, did not by any means foreshadow the success of the 1998 varsity crew, for the season was still young and the crew proved that it had much potential for improvement.

"We're taking our season one race at a time," said captain Wolfgang Moser after the race in San Diego.

That strategy certainly worked for the rest of April and beginning of May. The varsity boat went on to win its next four regattas, defeating Brown by 5.95 seconds, Princeton and MIT by 0.40 and 36 seconds respectively, Penn and Navy by 4.1 and 11.9 seconds respectively and Northeastern by 2.9 seconds.

By the time it was all over, Harvard was ranked number one in the East.

The Penn/Navy Adams Cup race was a crucial one for the Harvard crew. Harvard was trailing for most of the length of the course, but managed to pull away in the last quarter of the 2000-meter race. Harvard had shown its ability to handle pressing situations.

Northeastern and the Smith Cup awaited Harvard the next weekend. Not even the sudden and unexpected departure of three team members--sophomore Samuel Brooks, senior Connor Spreng and senior coxswain Dipanjan Banerjee--after an alleged rock-throwing incident was enough to stop Harvard's charge.

Beaten by Northeastern in the past two years by only one second each time, Harvard finally ended the Huskies' reign over the Smith Cup.

The boat was in strong contention for the Eastern Sprints title. With two weeks to prepare for the season's most important regatta, the Harvard crew, as always, was looking to improve.

But Sunday, May 17 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. was a disappointing day for the Harvard heavies, as the varsity crew came in second, six seconds behind a Penn crew it had beaten by 4.1 seconds earlier in the season.

With the Harvard-Yale Regatta still ahead, the crew has a big part of its season to complete. The race is an extremely important tradition for both schools. Harvard sends its team from Newell Boathouse to Red Top in Connecticut immediately after final exams to begin training for the race.

The oarsmen spend most of their training time rowing, eating, playing croquet, sleeping and watching videos of old Harvard-Yale races. The pictures of previous varsity crews decorate the walls of Red Top, evoking in each team member a strong feeling of tradition and sportsmanship.

The grueling four-mile varsity course is the longest college crew course in the country. Harvard leads the series, 80-52, having won 12 of the last 13 races. In Harry Parker's coaching days, Harvard has a 30-5 record over Yale.

The crew will compete upstream on the Thames River in New London, Conn., on Saturday June 6.

Lightweight Men

The Harvard lightweight men's crew program started back in 1922.

Since then, the varsity crews have won 23 Eastern Sprints titles, more than any other crew, and has been named national champions four times since in the last seven years, in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997.

The 1997 season was an extremely successful one for the Crimson lightweights. They claimed a victory over Yale and Princeton for the Goldthwait Cup, the oldest in lightweight rowing, earned an Eastern Sprints title and clinched another national championship.

The crew then set off for England to row in the Henley Royal Regatta, where it advanced to the quarterfinals of the Temple Challenge Cup.

Needless to say, the team was looking for the same sort of accomplishments in the 1998 season. Unfortunately for 13th-year Coach Charlie Butt and his lightweight crew, this spring did not match the success of the previous one.

The season started out with the crew placing second, seven seconds behind Yale, at the San Diego Crew Classic. The varsity then went on to capture a series of wins in the three following weekends, defeating Cornell, Penn, MIT, Dartmouth and Navy.

The next weekend did not turn out as well, however. Harvard broke its rudder and ended up losing to both Princeton and Yale at the double-duel regatta between the three schools. After a two-week break in its racing schedule, Harvard set out for Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. to compete in Eastern Sprints. The crew was ahead for the first 1950 meters of the 2000 meter race, but was passed by Princeton in the sprint.

Harvard never got its last laugh, as Princeton beat the Crimson again at Nationals, held on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

"The season has been challenging in some respects," said co-captain Jonathan Kibera. "We have great speed, but it took some time to truly find it."

Having raced in at least four different combinations, the varsity boat will most probably be graduating captains Kibera and Christopher Sims, as well as senior William Evans.

What do the Harvard lightweights have in store next year? Kibera is optimistic.

"We have won Sprints and/or Nationals in every odd year in the 90s," he said. "The trend should continue."