The women's lightweight squad made similar improvements, finishing fourth in a time of 18:32.27 after a 10th-place finish a year ago.

The men's freshman heavyweights made it a three-peat in the Youth Eight division, successfully defending their '98 and '99 titles with a convincing 13-second win over Ruderverein Emscher in a time of 15:35.43.

"The win today is certainly not a surprise," freshman heavyweight Coach Bill Manning said. "But the guys were really excited to beat the German club team. There were a lot of gold medallists from the Junior Worlds in that boat, and to beat them was a great feeling."

Yale finished a distant third in a time of 15:47.58 and was not a serious concern to the Harvard crew.

"To be honest it's not something you really think about," Manning said. "I give a lot of respect to Yale, but it's the fall. That rivalry becomes a little more important in the spring and today we were really looking out for the crew from Germany."

The women's freshman heavyweight boat was the only team not to improve upon last year, finishing eighth in a time of 18:32.51. Like the men, Radcliffe was the defending champion in the Youth Eight Division.

But Harvard was represented in the races Sunday by more than just current students. Men's heavyweight coach Harry Parker, 64, rowed to a fourth-place finish in the Veteran Singles division with a time 21:47.62 and alum Wolf Moser '98 stroked the U.S. National Team to victory in the Championship Eight.