Lights Dominate Navy on Charles

Navy may be named for its watery pursuits, but on the Charles River Saturday, the Midshipmen were nevertheless no match for the Harvard lightweights’ top boats, which wiped out memories of last year’s defeat at Navy’s hands—and losses in four of the last five years—with varsity and second varsity wins that brought the Haines Cup back to the Crimson.

The varsity eight had a turbulent first half of the course, with Navy getting a few seats up off the line and gradually increasing its lead. But the Crimson brought out the big guns in the second half, pulling out to a lead that spelled victory just 250 meters before the finish line.

“They jumped up a couple of seats at the start and just kept walking,” four-seat Marc Luff said. “It was a really tough battle.”

“We pulled level with about 300 to go, and the guys made up their minds [that there was] no way we’re going to lose this,” said varsity coxswain Mark Adomanis, who is also a Crimson editor. “I thought we were a little bit off, but we rowed pretty well in the second half.”

He added that Navy has improved greatly in the last few years to become “a pretty good rival.”

“When you’re racing a strong crew like Navy and you’re a little bit off, you become very quickly aware of it,” he said. “There was a heck of a lot of pressure in the first half—they really threw a punch at us. And when you get a punch thrown your way like that, it’s easy to crack—but we didn’t.”

The result of the boat’s rally was a 0.6-second win over the Midshipmen, clocking in at 6:04.5 to Navy’s 6:05.1.

“We’ve learned a lot from that slump we got in [last year],” Luff said. “It’s just a different mentality from last year, and so just different results.”

The second varsity eight also turned the tables on Navy, which took the lead from the Crimson last year in the final stretch to register a win. This weekend, though, Harvard’s second varsity battled its way into the lead and kept it, relegating Navy to second place.

“We were dead even for the first 30 or 40 strokes, and at one point I was on the seven-seat,” second varsity coxswain Kevin He said. “So I told the guys, I’m on the seven, and everyone sort of woke up and was like, ‘Wow, we can do this.’”

The boat moved up to almost a length’s advantage over Navy, at which point He heard the other boat’s coxswain making a call for the Midshipmen to move past the Crimson in the last 500 meters.

“I told the boys, it’s not going to happen—we’ve worked too hard for this,” he said.

It didn’t happen, as the Crimson secured another close victory, with a 6:17.6 finish to the Midshipmen’s 6:18.9.

The other three boats were not so successful, with Navy conquering the third varsity in 6:25.1 to the Crimson’s 6:52.0, and the freshman eight also falling, crossing the line seven seconds behind Navy with 6:29.7.

The second freshman result was much closer, with a last minute-push for victory by the Crimson that didn’t quite make it, the Midshipmen completing the course in 6:30.6 and the Crimson in 6:31.5.

Next week, Harvard goes on the road again to face both Yale and Princeton for the Goldthwait Cup in New Jersey.

“That’s a big one,” Luff said. “We face two really good opponents at the same time, and it has a bit more of a championship feel. It’s one that everyone gets excited about every year.”

Kevin He added that the second varsity has “a little score to settle” with Princeton.

“During the Princeton chase, we clashed twice with them, and they weren’t very nice about it,” he said.

Adomanis mentioned Navy’s close races with Yale and Princeton—narrowly losing to Princeton and beating Yale—and expressed admiration at the quality of the league’s boats this year.

“There are always a couple of boats that race really hard,” he said, “but this year especially, it seems there are a lot of great boats out there and a lot of strong guys and tough competition.”

He also pointed out that this weekend’s races were his and the other seniors’ final time competing in Cambridge, so their success was a fitting farewell.

“We had a lot of seniors in the boat, and it was our last race on the Charles,” he said, “so it was definitely a memorable way to end it.”

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.