Harvard Snatches Opening Victory

In its first race of the season, Harvard men’s lightweight crew did exactly what it set out to do: win.The Crimson won four of its five races against visiting Delaware. Only Harvard’s first freshman boat fell to the Blue Hens.“They showed up to race,” Crimson coach Charley Butt said of his crews. “They’d made their minds to be strong and to ignore the obvious shortcomings of the weather. It’s harder than it looks to go out there in those conditions. They rowed hard, and they rowed well. I think it’s a fine start to our season.” The first varsity eight set the tone for the day with its 11.1-second win in the teams’ first race.According to Butt, the Crimson reached the 1000-meter mark around four seconds ahead of the Blue Hens. Once Harvard went past Harvard Bridge into calmer water, it was able to open up the race and crossed the finish line in 6:36.1, a strong time in a cross-headwind listed as between 15 and 20 miles per hour.“The water was rougher at the beginning,” said captain Will Newell, who raced in the six-seat of the first varsity eight.”I think we definitely got comfortable [in the second 1000].”But Newell didn’t believe the weather had a huge affect on the results.“It does affect the times,” Newell said. “But at the end of the day, everyone’s dealing with the same weather. I don’t think you would see a different result if you’d had different weather.”After the first varsity eight won handily, the second varsity eight won by an even larger margin. The Crimson crossed the line in 6:45.5, nearly 20 seconds ahead of its Delaware counterpart. Harvard’s time was also faster than the 6:47.2 posted by the Blue Hens’ first varsity eight in the race just before.“I thought the second varsity had a particularly good race,” Butt said.The second varsity eight had secured open water earlier in the race than its first-boat counterparts.“They started to move away at 500 meters, and by the time they got to the 1000, they had open water,” freshman coach Linda Muri said. “They did a lot there in that first 1000.”The third time proved to be the charm for Delaware. In the third race of the day, the Blue Hens’ first freshman eight earned a five-second win over its Crimson counterparts.But Harvard was able to keep the race competitive in its early stages.“It was pretty close, within a couple of seats,” Muri said. “Delaware had a slight advantage of two to three seats. They’d be up two, they’d be up three, they’d be up two, they’d be up three...just before the 1000, our guys were able to close to back within a seat."But that was as close as the Crimson would get."Delaware was able to counter,” Muri continued.“In that second 1000, they got almost another length.”Harvard reasserted itself in the third varsity eight race, which the Crimson won by 16.7 seconds.The Blue Hens jumped out to an early lead, but Harvard was able to move through Delaware’s crew to take a narrow lead.The close margin turned into a quarter-minute win when the Blue Hens’ seven seat caught a boat-stopping crab.“They had some good momentum regardless,” Muri said of the 3v.“It took them a little longer,” Newell said. “They definitely had a good second half of the piece.” The final race of the day was the second freshman fours event in which the Crimson’s three fours of walk-ons took on the Blue Hens’ second freshman four entry.Harvard took the top two places, while Delaware took third, four seconds ahead of the Crimson’s third entry.Harvard’s A four finished the race in 8:21.4, 17.9 seconds ahead of its runner-up teammates. The real race was between the Crimson’s B four and the Blue Hens’ entry.“My second four got off to a slower start,” Muri said. “It was a good race. It was back and forth with my second four and Delaware.”The B four eventually won by 7.3 seconds, while the Blue Hens beat Harvard’s C four by four seconds.Saturday marked a strong start for a team that is seeking a return to the top of the national standings. The Crimson’s next test will come in two weeks when Harvard heads to the Schuylkill to take on Penn and Cornell.“This is our first chance...to have a first go down the course, to make weight for the first time, to race a 2k for the first time, to kind of see what’s working and what’s not,” Newell said. “You can’t argue with a win.”—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.