That series of races and the subsequent win of the Ten Eyck Trophy at IRA nationals spoke directly to the depth of Harvard’s program, its senior class in particular.
The highly-touted recruiting class of 2000—which currently calls six members of both the first and second varsities its own—arrived in Cambridge brimming with potential, replete with several Unites States junior national team members and other already seasoned racing veterans.
National championships weren’t expected—traditionally, the Crimson skipped the IRA championship regatta to train for the season-ending Harvard-Yale dual—but just about everything else was.
And, as they had last year, and each of the two before that, when it came time, the group cemented by the class of 2000 came through, this time just as everyone expected them to.
“Last year was a surprise,” McDaniel said. “This year it was expected and everyone was gunning for us. We had a big bull’s eye on our back and I think we pulled it off even more impressively than last year.”
In a grand final featuring five of the nation’s top six crews, the Crimson held true to the race strategy that had undercut so many upset bids, while the opposition quintet defensively attempted to forestall the inevitable.
No. 2 Washington and No. 4 California attempted to break from the pack off the start, with only the Golden Bears succeeding in picking up a pair of seats.
Harvard would reclaim them 700 meters in, as always. Just as predictably, the Crimson would be ahead by a full length 400 meters later, and possess an open-water lead not long thereafter.
“It felt like it was scripted,” Lehe said. “We know if we don’t let anybody jump us by more than a seat or two off the start we can pull it back. We know we’ve got more base speed in the middle than anyone else.”
And in the end, that was what separated the 2004 national champions from their 2003 counterparts. Each time on the water, they knew they’d win. And so did everyone else.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.