SEASON RECAP: Harvard Among Nation’s Best

It was an unexpectedly bumpy season in 2006, one that left many wondering what this year would bring for the Harvard men’s heavyweight crew team.

They didn’t have to wonder long.

The Crimson swept into the season with a flourish, first taking out Navy and Penn in a rout of the Adams Cup that saw all five Harvard boats beat out its two opponents.

A week later, it was Brown’s turn to feel the sting of loss on a day that favored neither team with its high winds and choppy waters. Despite losses by the second and third varsity, the varsity and freshman boats all crossed the finish line first, reclaiming the Stein Cup from the Bears.

This set the scene for the third race of the season at Lake Carnegie, N.J., against MIT and last year’s national champions, Princeton, for the Compton Cup. The Tigers, having lost many of their best oarsmen to graduation, were not much of a match this time around, as Princeton and MIT both succumbed to another clean sweep by the Crimson’s boats. The varsity race was tight at first, with Harvard lagging behind Princeton for much of the course. But the Crimson recovered to win by almost a length.

“They were up about half a length when they made that push, and we countered them right away,” said varsity eight coxswain Jess Hoy. “We have the ability to race from behind, and we showed that this weekend.”

After defeating Northeastern in its final dual race of the season, Harvard entered Eastern Sprints weekend with undefeated varsity and freshman boats—both 6-0 on dual racing—and a discernible excitement on the team.

“Everyone is psyched to go out there,” said freshman eight coxswain Joe Lin at the time. “And I think we’re starting to get additional speed that we’ve been working for and which we’ll continue to get.”

And the Crimson heavyweights’ performance on the day validated its No. 1 EARC ranking, with all boats gaining a place in the Grand Finals.

In the afternoon, though, Harvard really turned on the heat, starting with aggressive second freshman and third varsity wins that gave the team an initial boost in the competition for the overall Rowe Cup.

The freshman and second varsity eights, however, did not take top place on the podium, with the freshmen falling to Brown and the second varsity losing to Wisconsin. Still, both earned silver medals for their impressive efforts.

Order was restored when the varsity boat entered the water. The crew vaulted to the front from the start and never looked back, setting a new course record for Lake Quinsigamond with a time of 5:27.005.

“The results speak for themselves,” Baker said. “It was nice to have all the boats do so well, including the second freshman and third varsity wins.”

Looking forward to IRAs a couple of weeks later, Baker said that although some West Coast teams were very strong this year, the Crimson was definitely in the same league.

“If this is any indication, this team can win, and we know that we’ve got what it takes to compete with them,” he said.

As the performance at IRAs showed, he was right—at least to a degree. Harvard stayed at the head of the competition and gave Washington a run for its money, though the Crimson eventually placed second to the Huskies in the varsity race and overall.

“We were pleased with our performances, even if they weren’t exactly what we had hoped for,” Baker said. “It was a great season—you can pick out any highlight you want from it.”

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