Harvard Crews Race to Trio of Cup Wins

It was another weekend of dominant racing for Harvard men’s heavyweight and lightweight crew.

While the heavyweights swept all five races against Northeastern, including the varsity eight’s Smith Cup victory, the lightweights topped Yale and Princeton, earning a varsity eight and team win to capture the Goldthwait Cup and Vogel Cup, respectively.

HEAVYWEIGHTS vs. NORTHEASTERN

The strong headwinds on Saturday morning added another obstacle to the racing course on the Charles. But Harvard heavyweights handled the difficult conditions well enough to topple Northeastern in each race of the morning.

In the 1V race, the Crimson finished in 6:21.2, 3.4 seconds ahead of the Huskies. Harvard got out in front early on, holding a six-seat lead over Northeastern at the 500-meter mark, but the Huskies continued to push the Crimson throughout the duration of the race. Despite the pressure, Harvard was able to respond and finished just shy of an open water victory.

The win gave Harvard its 15th straight Smith Cup victory and extended the boat’s undefeated record in the dual season.

“We had very tough conditions, but we definitely didn’t handle them as well as we could have,” said captain Michael DiSanto, seven seat of the first varsity boat. “Part of the sport is being able to handle anything that comes your way…. We are going to need to row a lot better.”

Despite the victory, DiSanto was far from pleased with his boat’s performance and did not view the challenging conditions as a valid excuse for the poor quality of rowing.

“I would almost say we lost because of how badly we rowed,” DiSanto said.

While Northeastern was able to maintain overlap with the Harvard 1V, the Crimson secured open water over the Huskies’ in the second varsity and freshman eight races. The second varsity boat recorded the biggest eights win over Northeastern on Saturday, as the crew took the lead early and finished the race in 6:26.2, 15.1 seconds ahead of the Huskies.

The Harvard first freshman eight also defeated Northeastern by a solid margin of six seconds.  The second freshman boat raced as two fours, with the Crimson A four outpacing the Huskies by 22.8 seconds.

The third and fourth varsity eights also had solid showings, defeating Boston University’s third varsity eight with times of 6:36.1 and 6:46.9, respectively. The Terriers came in 2.1 seconds after the 4V.

Despite any frustration, it was overall a successful weekend on the Charles for Harvard. Now, the Crimson now readies itself for the EARC Sprints in two weeks in Worcester.

“I wish we had a better row, but it was nice to win at least,” DiSanto said. “Our focus is on Worcester.”

NO. 1 LIGHTWEIGHTS vs. YALE, PRINCETON

In the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton regatta, the biggest dual race of the season for the Crimson lightweights, Harvard was able to finish off its undefeated dual season with a varsity and team win on Saturday in Derby, Conn.

The competition between these three top teams also provides a good indicator going into Sprints.

“We like to think of HYP as the first of our championship races,” said senior Tim Moore, six seat of the first varsity eight. “It’s an old rivalry between all three of the schools.  We know that all of the teams get up for it and come ready to race us. We definitely were excited to bring one of our best pieces yesterday.”

The first varsity boat, starting in the middle lane, took an open-water lead on Princeton early on and finished in 5:31.2, 4.2 seconds ahead of the Tigers and six seconds ahead of Yale.  The Crimson, steered by senior coxswain Angela Chang, expertly handled the significant turn in the Yale course.

“It is an interesting course with a big turn,” said sophomore Michael Wales, bow seat of the first varsity eight. “When you are sitting on the start line, it appears that you are down.  It is a mental barrier that we had to work past and overcome.”

Harvard’s additional victories in the third varsity and second freshman races allowed the team to secure the Vogel Cup because of the overall team win. The second varsity eight fell to both Yale and Princeton, while the first freshman eight lost to the Tigers by a narrow 1.4-second margin.

After losing to Yale by .02 seconds in last season’s first varsity race at IRA National Championships, the 1V was excited to have had such a strong showing against their rival team.

“We have a bad taste in our mouth,” Moore said about last year’s results. “There is some revenge to be had.  But close racing is what is great about the league. We use that as motivation to remind us of what we are working towards.”

As the Crimson lightweights approach Sprints in two weeks, they are working on maintaining their edge and positive trajectory while trying to avoid the complacency that comes with a top ranking.

“The easy thing to do would be to say, ‘We had an undefeated season and we are the number one seed, so Sprints is going to be locked up,’” Wales said. “But going forward we are going to step our game up.  Yeah, we’re fast, but we need to get faster.”

—Staff writer Alexa N. Gellman can be reached at agellman@college.harvard.edu.