M. Lightweight Crew Sinks Top-Ranked Midshipmen

This year, the competition’s been fierce in Newell Boathouse.

The lightweight program is the deepest it has been in years, and seats on the top two varsity eights are at a premium.

Senior varsity six-seat Dave Stephens said it best after the Crimson’s five-boat sweep of Dartmouth and MIT on April 17.

“Everyone spent the whole year training really hard and it was really competitive to make all the boats,” Stephens said. “In any other year, the guys on the [second varsity] boat would be on the varsity.”

With eight available seats on the first varsity and perhaps 16 qualified occupants, Harvard had a numbers problem heading into the season.

The solution, however, has been all good for the Crimson, which entered the weekend with a combined 13-1 record for the first and second varsity boats.

And on Saturday, the Crimson promptly—and decisively—dethroned a perennially deep Navy varsity that had grown accustomed to having the Haines Cup on display in Annapolis, Maryland.

“It’s a strong compliment to everybody in the first and second boats as well as throughout the whole program,” second varsity coxswain Felix Yu said. “We have 16 rowers that are all at a top level of collegiate rowing.”

The varsity won by 4.7 seconds, and the second varsity overcame a near boat-length deficit to take the lead in the final 500 meters, coming away with a 1.8 second win. The margins were not nearly the largest the Crimson has enjoyed this season, but they were the boldest and most important.

Both Navy varsity boats entered the weekend with the justified swagger of a No. 1 ranked crew fresh off a solid trouncing of Georgetown—the only boat to have defeated Harvard’s first varsity all season long. The Navy first varsity had not lost a spring race since 2003, and the 2004 Midshipmen rowed to an open-water victory at the national championships. Navy had won the previous three Haines Cups over the Crimson. Only one Harvard boat got the best of the Midshipmen in a dual race during that three-year stretch.

Navy had, it seemed, every reason to be confident.

And No. 2 Harvard had every reason to go after them.

The first varsity broke open an even race just after the midway mark of the course en route to an open-water victory over the Midshipmen.

Harvard’s second varsity made things more exciting, falling behind by almost a length just before the 1000-meter mark before beginning a gradual comeback that brought both boats even with less than 500 meters remaining. In the furious sprint to the finish, the second varsity burned the country’s No. 1 crew in a push that gave the Crimson a six-seat advantage at the line.

“Our second varsity showed this weekend what it’s like to win a fight of a race,” first varsity two-seat Wes Kauble said. “They embodied the training we’ve been putting in over the last few weeks. They could have laid down, they could have let it go—but they fought back.”

“At that point, you find something else inside yourself,” added senior second varsity six-seat Nate Rogers. “We had nothing to lose.”

The wins ensured the Crimson of No. 1 national rankings for both the first and second varsity boats heading into the final weekend of dual competition. For the Harvard seniors, Saturday marked the first time they have defeated Navy in a dual race.

“With the [second varsity’s] win and the varsity’s open water win,” Rogers said, “it was a really sweet victory for the seniors.”

The statement made, the finish line a wash of Crimson supporters shouting at America’s new No. 1 boats, Harvard calmly rowed back to the Haines Cup’s new home, Newell Boathouse.

The hardware was nice, but they all know a June victory over the Midshipmen in Camden, N.J., will merit far more celebration.

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.