As the race drew near its midway point, the Crimson began to make a move of its own.

According to Webb, the Crimson let loose with close to an all-out sprint for 700 meters—close to two minutes long—first closing the open-water gap, then pulling to within half a length.

But Harvard and its six seniors simply ran out of time, officially crossing the line three-quarters of a length behind the Leander crew.

“I don’t think anything went wrong,” Riffelmacher said. “Leander was a very fast crew and we had a great race.”

“It was a great way to cap off a fantastic season and a pretty fulfilling career for all of us,” Webb added. “There’s nothing else in the sport like racing in front of that many people on that kind of level even though we didn’t come away with the silverware.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.