Men's and Women's Crew Among Top Finishers in Weekend Races

The penultimate race of the regular season was a jam-packed one for the Harvard and Radcliffe crew teams. The men’s teams each had dual races, while the women’s teams participated in competitions.

MEN'S CREW

The No. 5 lightweight team defeated Navy at home to take the Haines Cup for the sixth year in a row, besting the Midshipmen for the seventh consecutive time.

“We knew that Navy were going to be a strong team going into the race, so we were expecting close races which is exactly what we got,” junior lightweight Jack Kelly said.

The varsity eight race began close, with both boats neck and neck for the first 1,000 meters. After crossing the bridge, though, the Crimson pulled away. In the last few hundred meters of the race, Harvard was ahead by open water. Navy closed the gap, but still finished five seconds behind the Crimson, which finished at 6:03.

The second varsity squad also won, defeating its opponent by open water. Harvard finished in 6:08, while the Mids finished 10 seconds later.

Navy took the next three events, besting the 2F and 5V teams by open water, the third varsity team by six seconds, and the fourth varsity team by seven.

Princeton put an end to the No. 4 Harvard men’s heavyweight team's win streak on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, N.J., Saturday morning. The team earned its first split of the season, defeating MIT and falling to Princeton, which won the Compton Cup.

The Crimson came in second place in each of the four races, falling behind the Tigers each time by less than five seconds. The varsity eight team finished five seconds behind the Tigers in the first event, completing the 2,000 meter race with a time of 5:48.4. The team beat MIT by open water. This was the only event MIT participated in, giving Harvard the automatic win over the Engineers.

WOMEN'S CREW

The Radcliffe women’s heavyweight team participated in the Clemson Invitational this weekend, finishing third in the competition.

The varsity boat recorded a time of 6:34.3, coming in behind Washington State, which finished at 6:29.6, and Virginia, which won the event with a time of 6:28.

The JV boat took fourth place in a log-jam with two other boats from Oregon State and Minnesota. The Black and White, with a time of 6:43.2, finished .2 seconds behind Oregon and .7 seconds ahead of Minnesota.

The No. 2 lightweight team dropped two races against Princeton at home on Saturday, bringing its 18-game win streak in dual races to an end. Like the men’s race, the V8 team was tight to the end. The Black and White fell behind in the end though, crossing the finish line at 6:32, exactly one second behind the Tigers, who took the Class of 1999 Cup.

The JV team recorded the only win of the day. The team finished at 6:41, defeating both the Princeton JV and the heavyweight third varsity teams by open water.

On Sunday, the lightweights came in second in the Lightweight Invitational against No. 4 BU and No. 1 Stanford on the Charles. The first varsity team came in one second behind BU in its heat but advanced to the grand final based on its time of 6:58.1.

In the Grand Final, all three boats were battling it out for the first 1,000 meters, but the Cardinals pulled away in the second half, finishing three seconds ahead of the Black and White, which crossed at 6:39.6.

The JV boat took third in the competition, and the varsity four won by open water.

“Coming away from this race, we're looking forward to getting into some aggressive racing next weekend…and pushing ourselves beyond the limits of our expected capabilities,” freshman heavyweight Kathleen Malloch said. “This race provided the platform for us to come together both in individual boats and as a team, providing an opportunity to get racing experience in, and motivation to push ourselves going forward.”

—Staff writer Katherine H. Scott can be reached at katherinescott@college.harvard.edu.