TEAM OF THE YEAR, RUNNER-UP: Men's Lightweight Crew

After the Harvard men’s lightweight crew first varsity boat took the lead in the second half of the EARC Sprints championship race, the Crimson could not be caught.

From that point on, the Harvard rowers dominated the race to the finish line like they have dominated on the water all season long.

The varsity boat’s performance earned the boat a Sprints title, contributed to an overall second-place team finish, and capped off an undefeated dual season for the first ranked Harvard lightweights.

“We went out there and did our job,” senior Tim Moore says of Sunday’s race. “We executed like we had planned on.”

The Crimson’s consistency this season has been remarkable.  It has delivered results all spring, from its first dual race to the start of its championship season.

The Harvard lightweights began their dual season with a four-race sweep of Delaware.

The team never looked back from that win. It carried its success through its final dual race, the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Regatta.

The Crimson defeated both of its perennial rivals to secure both a varsity and team win.

“We definitely take one race at a time,” senior coxswain Angela Chang says. “Each one is important, but the championship season is really where we have a chance to test ourselves and perform our best.”

The victory at Sprints was the latest confirmation of the lightweights’ ability to dominate.  While they are excited by their success thus far, the upcoming IRA National Championships on June 2 are at the forefront of the rowers’ minds.

All season, Harvard has been motivated by one number: .02.  That is the fraction of a second that prevented the Crimson from victory at last year’s IRAs.

Harvard is still stinging from the close loss to Yale.

“We did the same thing last year in the varsity—took all of our dual season races and won Sprints,” Moore says. “But we came up just the slightest bit short at IRAs.  I haven’t won an IRA gold, and that is really what I want the crew to accomplish to cap off my final season of rowing.”

The Crimson will spend the coming weeks training and gearing up for its final racing opportunity. Based on the team’s success so far this season and the extra bit of motivation from last year’s results its goal of becoming national champions seems attainable.

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