On the Charles, the Crimson had a distinct home course advantage, having had much more practice on the Head’s tricky turns, particularly the famed Weeks and Eliot turns.

This weekend, on a straighter Lake Carnegie three-miler, with one big turn, any edge belonged to Princeton.

But a relative lack of familiarity didn’t stop senior coxswain Angela Chang from steering Harvard’s first varsity eight to victory.

“Angela did great,” said Schultze, who rowed in the three seat. “For the second year in a row, she’s really nailed this course.”

In both the 2010 and 2011 Chases, the Crimson’s top eight has relied on a strong first half to its race.

“We had a really good start, a really good first half,” Schultze said of this year’s race. “We kind of held onto it in the second half.”

Last year, the Tigers posted a strong enough second half of the race to secure a win, but this year Harvard was able to hold on for a victory of nearly seven seconds.

“We were looking to gain some speed on last weekend,” said captain and two seat Tom Nesel. “The margin wasn’t any larger, so we’re going to keep working.”

The Crimson’s 2V took 15th overall and fifth among 2V crews.

“The 2V was working hard on improving,” Nesel said.

“We’d been switching up lineups,” added Paresky, who rowed in the six seat of the boat. “It was a pretty solid row. We had a good time out there.”

FRESHMEN EIGHTS

While Harvard took the varsity events, the home team had its way in the freshmen eight race, which featured both heavyweight and lightweight entries.

Princeton’s top heavyweight freshman eight won the race by over nine seconds, while the Tigers’ lightweight 1F finished second of all crews and first among lightweight competitors.

The Crimson’s top eight, meanwhile, took seventh overall and fourth among lightweight crews.