"The race could have gone either way," White said. "It was very close from the start. We need to make sure close races go our way in the future. We should win close races, and we didn't this weekend."

Lights Triumph

Harvard lightweight crew fared significantly better than its older, heavier counterpart. The Crimson overran a surprisingly fast Navy crew for its 29th Haines Cup on the Severn River in Annapolis Maryland.

Harvard clocked the 2000-meter race in 6:04.53, while the Midshipmen finished a length behind in 6:07.56.

Surprisingly, Navy was faster than Harvard out of the blocks, building a two-seat lead in the first 15 strokes of the race. Harvard, however, was faster when it really counted--in the middle 1000 meters of the race.

"We actually lost a little bit off the start," stroke Matt Emans said. "They had a quicker start than we did."

"We were able to move better at our base rhythm, especially in the second 500 meters," coxswain and captain Chris Schulte said.

Harvard (4-0) quickly closed the gap and began building its three-seat lead.

"By the time we settle to our base cadence, we were back with them," Emans said. "After that, it was a slow and steady move away."

Navy tried three times to push back into Harvard's lead throughout the course of the race, but each time the Crimson would redouble its efforts.

"Each time, we fought them off and took a few more seats," Emans said.

"Our base cadence has been our bread-and butter so far this season," Schulte said. "We've been able to move well. "It's worked for us in all of our races so far."

The lightweights have a huge race coming up next weekend--the 73rd running of the Harvard-Yale-Princeton race. Princeton and Yale--ranked number one and number three, respectively--are probably the most formidable opponents the Crimson has faced so far.

"Since Dartmouth, we have been keying towards [next weekend]," Emans said. "We got beaten by Princeton at IRA's [the National Championship], and we have been waiting for revenge since."

"It should basically be a preview of the National Championship," Schulte said. "Princeton tries to make a big move at the 1000-meter mark. Yale's base cadence is very high. Both Crews are very fast. We are looking for this race to be our toughest competition of the year."