The Harvard entry in the Men’s Championship Eight placed 17th yesterday afternoon. The crew did not include any of the members of last year’s national championship boat, two of whom took second in the Championship Fours.

The event celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and Harvard and Radcliffe crews were again in the mix against the world’s premier rowing competition. Heavy winds at the river’s basin forced officials to shorten the three-mile course to just over two miles long, but a change in scenery did nothing to deter the Harvard’s top Championship Four entry yesterday.

That shell’s second-place finish was one of numerous highlights on the men’s side, paralleled by the first freshman boat’s first-place finish in the Youth Eights. The heavies also brought home another title—the Club Eights—but was disqualified on account of an eligibility technicality.

Otherwise it was business as usual yesterday for Harvard. Despite losing six first varsity rowers from last year’s national championship boat and six more from the junior varsity, the Crimson dominated the competition in the Championship Four race. Harvard led early in the race, but its pace was overtaken in the final half mile by that of USRowing—manned by rowers from this year’s Olympics—which defeated the Crimson by 0.2 seconds. Nobody else—not even the non-collegiate competition—came close.

Harvard began the race aggressively, taking advantage of an early opening to pass a moving Princeton crew. Although Harvard was forced to pass Wisconsin on the outside, the crew made up for the loss of time with a burst of speed just beyond the race’s one-mile mark.

“We went in thinking we were going to have a really big fight,” said senior two-seat Malcolm Howard. “We tried to pass other crews so we could get around the first turn early. We got a chance to pass Princeton early and that worked really well.”

The Crimson boat (12:12) held an advantage throughout the first half of the race, leading the USRowing crew by four seconds at the race’s first marker. And though Harvard eventually settled for second place, the closest collegiate boat—Wisconsin—crossed the line more than 23 seconds after the Crimson in a distant fifth. Princeton finished sixth with a time of 12:37.

“Our performance was really good. We all feel we could have had a little better race, but we were happy with the overall result,” Howard said. “It’s confidence-boosting in some ways, but it’s just four guys, and we have to put together a fast eight for the spring.”

Harvard’s other entry in the field—competing under the moniker Charles River Rowing Association—recorded a 16th place finish. That crew crossed the line four seconds ahead of Yale’s heavyweight four.

Harvard’s other varsity heavyweight eight placed sixth in the Collegiate Eights.

The heavyweight freshman eight made an early name for itself, destroying the field in the Youth Eights by 10 seconds en route to a gold medal. After trailing California at the halfway mark, the Crimson maneuvered an effective push, tearing through the second leg of the course five seconds faster than the Golden Bear crew.

Ivy League opponents Penn, Princeton, Brown and Yale each finished more than eight seconds behind and never had a chance. The Crimson boat started first and finished first, avoiding any contact with another crew.

“We never really at any point had another boat trying to pass us,” seven-seat Matt King said. “We didn’t take any specific power moves. Our goal was to row a very thorough and consistently strong race.”

The lightweight freshman eight, entered in the same event, also put in a good showing. An eighth-place finish for the lights put them just one second behind the entry from Yale.

The Championship Eight event proved less successful for the Harvard heavies, who turned in an 18th-place finish. The boat, composed of last year’s first freshman crew, came in behind Princeton, California and Yale, which finished third, fourth and seventh, respectively.

An additional varsity entry in the Men’s Club Event had a similar ending for the Crimson rowers, but not for lack of effort. A boat composed entirely of juniors and seniors beat the nearest boat by 18 seconds. The victory, however, was short-lived. Upon arriving at the medal ceremony, the rowers found that their gold medals had been substituted for a heated protest. Opposing coaches complained that the Harvard eight violated eligibility requirements.