The Harvard lightweights, shown here in earlier action, struggled against defending national champion Cornell this weekend in Philadelphia. The Big Red won four of five races—including the third varsity eight by over 27 seconds—while the Crimson managed j

In Saturday’s testing set of races on the Schuylkill River, Pa., it soon became clear that the Crimson would not replicate its first and second varsity open-water wins at the same event last year.

The Harvard lightweights battled staunchly against defending national champion Cornell, only to lose out on victory by margins of a couple of seconds in this kick-off to the spring season, marking the first time in five years that Harvard has lost the event.

However, the Crimson boats all finished significantly in front of the third competitor, Penn.

The shape of the course at Penn necessitates that the boats be staggered at the start to give them an equal distance to race. Thus Harvard’s varsity eight started several seats down from Cornell, which, mentioned varsity coxswain Mark Adomanis, has a subtle psychological impact.

“In the first 50 meters, [Cornell] started with four seats up on us, and then they got another three or so, so then they were a length up,” said Adomanis, who is also a Crimson editorial editor. “Like many crews, they race best when they get comfortable, and we let them get too comfortable off the line.”

He said that Harvard’s speed off the line had not yet been a focus in practice, which accounted for the boat’s slow start on Saturday.

“We just weren’t fast enough off the line, which we can work on and we can fix,” he said. “You can’t give up easy seats, which I think we were doing.”

The boat ended up within sniffing distance of victory, at only 2.1 seconds behind Cornell, with a time of 5:48.4. Penn finished in 5:59.4.

The second varsity boat, on the other hand, started with a lead, but the Big Red oarsmen caught up in the first 400 meters.

“They gained another five seats round the curve,” two-seat Dan Rasmussen said. “But then we remained steady with them, and gained a little ourselves in the last stretch.”

That was not enough to propel Harvard out in front of Cornell, however. The Big Red won again by just over two seconds, with a 5:49.7 time, compared to the Crimson’s 5:52.0.

“I think we knew going into it that it would be a tough race,” Rasmussen said. “I mean, this early in the season, our coach, Charley Butt, told us to just go out and row our best.”

In other boats, the third varsity finished 27 seconds behind Cornell at 6:30.7, and the second freshman eight beat Cornell and Penn with a time of 6:11.4.

The first freshman eight was disqualified for passing on the incorrect side of the buoys at the turn in the course.

Adomanis was optimistic about the performances yet to come from the Crimson and its chances in the season as a whole.

“There are definitely things to change and to improve, but considering the way first races go, we did really well,” he said. “After this race, we’re going to be working on our start, and we’ve had some guys that have been injured and should be coming back that should help.

“We’re not where we want to be yet, but no one’s panicking,” he added. “We’re just looking forward to our next race and getting faster.”

Rasmussen agreed, saying that Saturday’s performances showed that the Crimson boats were “rowing competitively up there with the best.”

“We’re lean, we’re mean, we’ve got a few seconds to glean, and in the next few races, we’re really going to do something worth seeing,” he said.

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.