Lightweights Fall Short After Storm

So much for drama, tight finishes, and a wire-to-wire lightweight final.

And so much for a Harvard appearance on the winner’s dock.

The Cornell varsity eights turned a historically close race into a one-sided affair, blitzing the field in both the first and second varsity lightweight final races to claim the Big Red’s first one-two Sprints sweep since 1964.

Harvard was left out of the mix with two fourth place finishes in the varsity races. The Crimson trailed early and rallied late, only to be kept out of the medals by less than a second in both varsity races.

“I’ve made a career on having very steady races where we walk back,” captain Dan Reid said. “A lot of Harvard crews are really good at walking back. But this was not the weekend to do that.”

For Cornell, everything happened right, from the early morning heats to the finish line on Sunday night. The Big Red dominated the lightweight heats in the morning, finishing first in both heats to claim good lanes for the finals.

“You’ve got to give it up to Cornell,” Reid said. “They sold the farm to get lane one, and they won the heat at a 38 [stroke rating].”

And as it turned out, Cornell—seeded eighth in the varsity race—saved its best for last, both during the EARC season and at Sprints.

The Cornell varsity stormed out to a commanding lead within the first 500 meters in the varsity final, turning one of Sprints’ most contested races into a struggle for second place.

“It says a lot about a crew that you can get that far out and it doesn’t matter what other crews are doing,” said varsity four-seat Wes Kauble. “I hope that in two weeks we can make it a battle for first instead of a fight for a silver medal.”

For both of Harvard’s lightweight varsity eights, that battle turned out to be a futile one. The Harvard varsity fought with Yale and Navy for second place throughout the first 1000 meters. The Bulldogs built a five-seat lead over the Crimson and had a slight advantage over Navy early, and the three boats jostled back and forth throughout the course.

“I still think that had we raced a little better race we could have gotten second,” varsity bow-man Brian Aldrich said. “But with the way Cornell rowed today—it would have been tough for us to hang with them.”

The race for second reached its zenith in the final 500 meters, when Navy, Harvard, and Yale appeared in a near-deadlock as the boats came into view. The Midshipmen pushed forward to claim second, but a bow ball battle between Harvard and Yale kept the third-place finisher in doubt even after the two boats slowed to a paddle.

“I thought we pulled it out—we were inching up on them and we were pretty much even,” Aldrich said. “It was a nailbiter, and they took it from us.”

The story was similar for the second varsity, which lost hold on a Cornell boat that jumped out to an early six-seat lead.

The Crimson fell back quickly following a shaky start, trailing Navy, Princeton, and Yale after the boats settled into the first 500.

Harvard’s steady settle allowed the second varsity to pull even with both Yale and Princeton within the first 400 meters, gained ground on Navy, and vied for second place by the halfway point.

But the latter 1000 was unkind to Harvard, which had shown itself resilient to Yale’s attempted comeback in the final sprint three weeks ago.

Navy surged at the 1000-meter mark to claim second place and begin a move on Cornell, while Harvard looked a sure third entering the final 500.

But Yale, unable to vanquish Harvard with a final move in Goldthwait Cup competition, outsprinted the Crimson at a higher stroke rating to steal third place on Sunday.

“We started to sprint, but the sprint didn’t quite happen,” coxswain Felix Yu said. “We tried to push back Yale’s move, but we lost a seat in the last five strokes.”

Harvard’s second varsity finished fourth in a time of 6:25.9, while Cornell claimed gold in 6:20.58, Navy earned silver in 6:23.6, and Yale finished with bronze in 6:25.34.

“Anytime you’re leaving a championship in fourth place, you’re not pleased,” Kauble said. “Our time was a respectable time, but three other boats were faster than us today.”

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