Harvard tried and tried and tried, but the Crimson heavy weight crew could not overcome a strong Yale crew for a win Saturday in the teams' season finale. HARVARD  20:51.98 YALE  20:45.94

Harvard tried so hard that one of its senior stars, Daniel Dias, ended up in the hospital after spending every last ounce of energy he had in the race.

"It was the most inspiring thing I've ever seen," said senior coxswain Jason Kastner.

Unfortunately, the history books will fail to mention that heroic effort. All that matters to the books is that Harvard lost to Yale on the Thames River in New London, Conn.

The Bulldogs overcame a three-quarter-boat length deficit at the three-mile mark to win the race, 20:45.94 to 20:51.98.

It was the 134th rowing of the annual Harvard-Yale Regatta, the oldest intercollegiate competition in the country, which was first run in 1852.

The race started out as a game of catch-up for Yale. The Crimson jumped out to a two-seat lead at the half-mile mark, but by the mile mark, the Bulldogs had pulled even.

After the next half-mile, the Crimson opened another two-seat lead. Harvard further extended the margin by the two-mile mark to half of a boat.

At the three-mile mark, down by three-quarters of a boat, Yale made its move. The Bulldogs stroked past the Crimson in the next half-mile for a two-seat lead, which they did not relinquish for the rest of the race.

When the boats crossed the finish line, Yale's crew erupted in cheers, celebrating the team's first win in the regatta since 1996.

The Harvard team members were also required to give up the shirts off their backs in accordance with ages-old crew tradition.

Harvard won the JV race 16:17.7 to 16:26.6. The Harvard freshmen, who have not lost a race all year, won 10:36.97 to 10:47.14.

The varsity eight win was a minor upset for the Bulldogs, who are tied for No. 8 in the country. The Crimson crew is No. 7.

The only other time the two squads were in the same race was at the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) Sprints in Worcester on May 9.

Rowing in different heats, the Bulldogs' time of 6:10.3 was faster than Harvard's 6:13.1. But because the Bulldogs were unable to finish in the top two of their heat, they were placed into the petite final, while Harvard's time in its heat was good enough to slip into the grand final.

In its second race, the Crimson's time of 5:50.28 over 2,000 meters was a tad faster than Yale's 5:51.6 over the same distance.

Saturday's race, which was originally scheduled for 5:30 p.m., was pushed back to 7 p.m. because of rough water on the Thames.

Last year's race was a Harvard blowout-the Crimson crossed the line at 21:32.3, and the Bulldogs were well-behind at 21:53.7. Harvard leads the all-time series, 81-53.

The end of the season also meant the end of the Harvard crew careers of seniors Scott Beal, Dias, Nate Jones, Todd Morgan, Chad Wolfe, Nuzum and Kastner.