The name and the number had coincided for two full seasons, for two Eastern Sprints championships, and for two IRA national championships.
Harvard. No 1.
But when USRowing released its first national poll on March 30, the Crimson found its name to the right of number three, strange territory for a crew that had won 17 consecutive dual races and captured two straight national titles by open water.
With seven new faces in this year’s varsity boat, it appeared that most of that No. 1 had graduated in 2004. This year, Harvard was supposed to be imperfect. This year, the legend of the Crimson heavyweights should have been mentioned only in the past tense.
That memo, however, never reached Newell Boathouse.
“Everyone’s looking forward rather than back,” varsity stroke Adam Kosmicki said. “Nobody cares about what happened last year except the guys who are gone.”
The heavyweights may have their sights set solely on 2005, but this dual season has played out in much the same fashion as the 2003 and 2004 campaigns.
And that No. 3 didn’t stick around for very long.
In April and May, there was Harvard—and several boat lengths back sat everybody else. The 17-race win streak at season’s opening—the Crimson has not lost a dual race since 2001—swelled to 21 duals after this year’s perfect campaign.
The varsity’s 6.4-second shocker over No. 1 Princeton was the closest margin of the season for Harvard. With a 17-second thrashing of No. 4 Navy on April 23, the Crimson left little doubt about its perennial dual-season dominance.
But with six boats even at the start line on Sunday, any dual-season distinction evaporates at the start command.
“The dual season doesn’t matter much,” Kosmicki said. “The thing about racing in big races like this that there are five other boats instead of just one.”
And each of those five boats has failed to get the best of Harvard, at least in the recent past. If its bright yellow boat weren’t distinctive enough already, the No.1 Crimson heads to Worcester an odds-on favorite in the varsity heavyweight final.
It’s a place the heavyweights have been before—and until the finish line on Sunday, they’re not buying it.
“I’m sure other teams believe we are vulnerable,” captain five-seat Aaron Holzapfel said. “But more than that, they believe they can win it all.”
