It was a bit of a long day for the Harvard men's crew teams yesterday as both the varsity lightweights and heavyweights finished in fourth place in their respective races at the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints Championship at Lake Quinsigamond near Worcester.

In fact, the only Crimson boat to win its race was the third varsity lightweight boat.

The men's first varsity heavyweight boat won its heat with a time of 5:52.52, but in the final, fell to fourth despite improving on that time.

The Crimson finished in fourth at 5:46.59, just behind third-place Wisconsin at 5:46.21. Brown won the race with a time of 5:43.18, followed by Princeton, which overcame a preliminary-race setback to Wisconsin, at 5:44.9.

"No matter how well the dual meet season goes, when it gets to this race, it's very seldom that anyone wins by a huge margin," said Brown coach Scott Roop.

In the Independent Rowing News rankings released on May 4, Harvard was ranked fourth in the country, ahead of both Wisconsin and Princeton.

The first varsity lightweight boat finished third in its race against the East Coast's best teams.

Columbia, which had been ranked fourth in the country in early May, upset top-ranked Yale and third-ranked Harvard, blazing to a 5:52.48 win. The Bulldogs were .11 seconds behind at 5:52.59 for the place. The Crimson finished at 5:55.63 for the show.

"I couldn't see the last 700 meters," said Columbia lightweight coach Tom Terhaar. "It looked like Yale had it."

Rutgers, which was ranked second at the beginning of the month, fell to a disappointing fifth at 5:58.94.

In the other lightweight races, Harvard again mostly wound up in the middle of the top flight.

After winning its heat, the second varsity lightweights finished third at 6:09.49, narrowly edged out for second by a pesky Yale boat that it had beaten in the prelims. Yale's time of 6:09.33 was eclipsed, however by a 6:08.18 from Princeton.

The third varsity lightweight boat earned the only finals victory for the Crimson on the day. Harvard hit a mark of 6:14.3, comfortably ahead of Navy at 6:16.87 and Dartmouth at 6:17.91.

In the men's freshman lightweight race, Harvard found itself outside of medal contention, placing fourth at 6:20.6, behind a cluster of Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale at the top. The Tigers won the race with a time of 6:15.21, and the Big Green and Bulldogs at 6:16.6 and 6:16.66, respectively.

The second freshman lightweights placed third behind Yale and Rutgers. The Crimson's time of 6:30.62 was well behind the Elis' 6:23.42 and the Scarlet Knights' 6:25.8.

On the heavyweight side, Harvard's second varsity improved on its heat-winning time of 6:01.94, only to finish fourth in the final at 5:57.35.

Brown, Princeton and Wisconsin were the top three teams, with the Badgers just narrowly edging out the Crimson for third at 5:57.3. The Bears were uncatchable at 5:51.99.

In the third varsity heavyweight race, the Crimson snagged fourth place with a time of 6:10.97. Wisconsin won the race at 6:05.47 and narrowly beat out Cornell at 6:05.48 in a photo finish. Princeton's time of 6:09.44 earned third place.

The first freshman heavyweight race saw more of the same teams that had done well all weekend at the top. Wisconsin, Princeton and Brown finished one-two-three. Brown inched to third place at 6:04.8 ahead of Harvard at 6:04.81. Wisconsin's 6:00.5 won the race.

In the second freshman heavyweight race, Harvard did not qualify for the finals, placing fourth in its preliminary heat at 6:28.4. The Badgers won the heat with a time of 6:12.9 and went on to win the final with a better time of 6:06.57.

--Material from the Associated Press was used in the reporting of this story.