The Harvard men's heavyweight second varsity crew is one of several Crimson boats that defended a No. 1 ranking in the East by beating Northeastern on the Charles Saturday morning.

The Harvard men’s heavyweight crew had beaten every team it faced on the Charles River in the last five seasons since Northeastern defeated the Crimson by a second on May 3, 1997. After Saturday’s bout with the Huskies for the Charlie Smith Cup, Harvard still reigns the river.

With the victory, the Crimson first varsity successfully defended its own perfect spring record and tallied a loss on the Huskies’ otherwise unblemished mark. Entering the race, Harvard and Northeastern had been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the East and No. 2 and No. 4 in the nation, respectively.

In the first varsity race, Northeastern took a two-seat lead off the start and the first 20 strokes, but Harvard made up the distance in the first 500 meters to bring the boats even. The Huskies never led again after the Crimson took the lead in the second 500.

“When we settle into our racing cadence, we were able to pull even and we started to slowly move on them,” said coxswain James D. Omartian ’02. “About a minute and a half into the race, we took a first big move and we were able to take a few seats.”

By the halfway point of the 2,000-meter course, the Crimson had taken a four-seat lead and just kept moving.

“After that, we were able to bring it up so I was even with the bowman—[a lead of] about seven seats,” Omartian said.

Harvard retained the same margin through the third 500, but picked up the pace though the sprint in the final 500 meters to win by about a boat length, posting a 2.8-second victory.

All the crews on the water had to deal with choppy water and a strong headwind.

“The water was particularly bad in the first 500 meters,” said Graham O’Donoghue ’02 of the second varsity boat. “It was quite choppy and we had a little trouble with blades hitting water at first, but that’s not unexpected and I think we handled that really well. As a crew we were particularly prepared for the rough conditions.”

In the second varsity event, the Harvard 2V boat’s perfect season was also preserved with an 11.1-second triumph over the Huskies, while the Crimson 3V trailed Northeastern by 6.5 seconds.

“We were anticipating a tough race and also anticipating Northeastern getting off the line rather quickly, which they did,” O’Donoghue said.

The Huskies took a lead of about four seats in the first 20 strokes, but Harvard began pushing back early.

“By the 400-meter mark, we had not only stopped their lead, but we had moved back several seats,” O’Donoghue said. “From there we continued to move out steadily to around a 10 to 11-second margin the whole way. We felt strong the whole way—we never felt too frantic.”

Harvard’s 2V is also ranked first in the East in its division, while Northeastern holds second. While the Crimson boat has yet to beat an opponent by less than six seconds, there are fast boats still to be seen at the EARC Sprints Championships on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester.

“We haven’t raced two of the strongest crews—Cornell and Wisconsin—yet,” O’Donoghue said. “We’ll be looking to show our top speed against those crews.”

Cornell’s 2V is ranked third in the East and Wisconsin’s is ranked sixth. Eastern Sprints are expected to bring out the best in all of the 2V boats.

“Our 2V is extremely fast and I don’t think they’ve tapped their full potential,” Omartian said. “They’ll be able to really shine at Sprints.”

The Harvard 3V boat finished last in the 2V race this weekend but remains undefeated against other 3V boats and No. 1 in the East.

On the freshman end, the first boat earned a victory with a 12.2-second margin while the second boat suffered the Crimson’s only loss of the day, by a margin of 4.8 seconds.

“Our freshmen are really starting to get their race plan straight,” Omartian said.

Harvard also raced in the 4V/3F event, where both of its fours beat out the Huskies with the 4V in first and the third freshman boat in second.

The Crimson boats have the next two weeks off from racing as Harvard prepares for the Sprints.

“I think it’s a great advantage for us because we’re able to work hard this week and taper next week,” Omartian said.

In addition to the work on the water, rowers will also have time to get academic work sorted out as finals loom on the same horizon as Sprints.

“It’s a good time to get schoolwork out of the way,” Omartian said. “It’s definitely a disadvantage, but I think we should be able to carry it off. It’s hard when we’re in hotel rooms and guys are still taking exams.”

While top ranks on paper and perfect seasons give Harvard an edge going into Sprints, domination of the Charles doesn’t hurt either.

“The seniors in the boat were able to go undefeated on the Charles,” Omartian said. “That’s a big confidence boost going into Eastern Sprints in two weeks.”

Harvard Men’s Heavyweight Crew

at the Charles River

1st Varsity: Harvard 6:12.9; Northeastern 6:15.7 2nd Varsity: Harvard 6:19.5; Northeastern 6:30.6; Harvard 3V 6:37.1 1st Freshman: Harvard 6:34.2; Northeastern 6:46.4 2nd Freshman: Northeastern 6:58.6; Harvard 7:03.4 4V/3F “4”: Harvard 4V 7:31.7; Harvard 3F 7:55.7; Northeastern 3F 8:01.2