M. Heavies Ready for Easterns

Two years without a loss. Think anyone will be gunning for the Harvard men’s heavyweight crew at EARC Sprints?

“There is,” said senior stroke Kip McDaniel, “a big bull’s eye on our back. I think we enjoy the pressure. The guys, particularly in the senior class, enjoy that a lot.”

But the greatest pressure thus far this year hasn’t come from any opposing crew. It’s been from the unanimous No. 1 Crimson varsity eight itself.

Though Harvard has defeated all six of its opponents thus far this season, the 1V has generally allowed its opponents to remain—if not within striking distance—close enough to at least be worth a second glance.

“We got ahead and then were content with small margins,” McDaniel said. “Now we can push for 2,000 meters and keep expanding the margins even when we’re not being pushed.”

Crystallizing a season’s worth of development towards that end, the Crimson—two weekends removed from a narrow 1.6-second win over now-No. 2 Princeton—routed then-No. 5 Northeastern by 13.8 seconds in its final regatta of the season.

That victory over the Tigers was Harvard’s closest brush with defeat all season and it will be Princeton that presents the largest challenge to the Crimson’s quest for perfection.

“Princeton is the crew that we need to worry about,” said Crimson coach Harry Parker. “We rowed a very good race. We had no complaints that we hadn’t rowed the best we could. We were very happy to beat them quite frankly.”

But not even the Tigers figure to pose as much of a problem this Sunday after losing its stroke to a broken jaw.

Still, Harvard has focused on the relative weaknesses drawn out in the dual against Princeton in order to solidify its title chances.

“I think,” Parker said, “if we’ve shown any shortcoming so far, it’s that we haven’t been as fast over the early parts of the race as we’d like to be.”

Against the Tigers, the Crimson fell behind off the start, and consequently needed to walk back through Princeton by four or five seats before gaining the advantage.

But apart from that Parker and his crew are confident that merely rowing the race that they have trained for all season long will be sufficient to walk away with another Eastern crown.

“Our strongest suit,” Parker said, “is our ability to maintain the pace all the way over the course.”

Beyond that, little should hinder the Crimson’s chances. Wind conditions are expected to be optimal, but even if there are unfavorable gusts, heat winners—and Harvard will almost certainly be one—are assigned preferable lanes to mitigate the negative effects.

“The best crew will win regardless,” McDaniel said.

The wildcard in the proceedings is No. 5 Wisconsin, undefeated despite a meeting with No. 3 Washington, but otherwise untested against the national powerhouse crews.

“Wisconsin is an unknown,” McDaniel said. “We went in sophomore year number one and they were number two and they took it from us.”

Navy and Cornell, the other two top-eight Eastern squads at the regatta, also have the potential for strong performances.

Regardless of how strong its competition proves, though, the Crimson will certainly walk away with a better sense of where it stands for the IRA National Collegiate Championships, held June 3-5.

“It’s a very good indicator,” McDaniel said. “If we can win here, we know we have a very good shot at the national championship.”

Winning also carries with it the traditional perk of a trip across the pond to London and a spot in the internationally-renowned Henley Royal Regatta.

But thoughts of additional titles will need to wait. For now, at least.

“We don’t anticipate,” Parker said. “That’s the right word. We don’t sort of look ahead and wonder how we’re going to feel based on certain results. All we’re focused on is whether we’re ready to race.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.