In the eights, Harvard sent out its three varsity boats. The 1V rowed impressively, finishing in third place based on its raw time of 15:36.607, but the Crimson was dealt a 60-second penalty which bumped it down to 18th. According to Eiermann, the boat starting ahead of Harvard got caught up in the buoys. The Crimson eight, already building up its speed, passed the entangled boat before the line and was penalized for starting in the wrong order.

Harvard is appealing the decision.

“Im pretty positive that with our appeal we might be able to get rid of that penalty,” Eiermann said. “Nothing on our part was intentional. I don’t think we got an advantage out of it.”

As for the race itself, Eiermann was pleased with his boat’s performance despite the less than ideal weather conditions.

“We couldn’t expect to be rowing pretty and feeling nice,” Eiermann said. “You have to have some guts and just go after it. When we hit the headwind, we stayed very strong. [Senior coxswain Dexter Louie] made some very good calls.”

The Crimson 2V finished in 10th place, while the 3V came in 20th. Harvard also raced a 14th-place boat in the Lightweight Championship Fours.

Eiermann was especially pleased with the performance of the Crimson sophomores, who burst onto the collegiate scene in the spring, dominating freshman races for much of the season. At the Head of the Charles, four sophomores rowed on the 1V, while two more raced for the 2V.

“The sophomore class is so strong,” Eiermann said. “They’ve surprised a lot of the older guys on the team. They’re putting on a serious challenge.”

With the Head of the Charles behind them, the Harvard heavyweights and lightweights have an idea of where they stack up against top-notch competition and can draw on this experience as they continue training and competing with the spring season in sight.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.