Columbia passed Harvard in the last 500 meters but never established any separation as the three-crew pack headed for the finish.
“I don’t even know what the final margin was, but it was close,” Binkley said.
The Lions nipped both Yale and the Crimson at the line by less than six-tenths of a second to take second place.
“[Columbia has] been known as a crew that doesn’t generally have a good start,” Binkley said. “But they make it up on the open water.”
Harvard’s second varsity eight finished sixth in its Grand Finals.
The Crimson lightweights return to action when they travel to the IRA National Championships on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. on May 31.
“The speed at Sprints doesn’t necessarily correlate to the speed at IRAs,” Blannin said. “We’ve got to make ourselves faster, and hopefully we’ll be up there at the top at IRAs.”
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.