Harvard’s A four won the Tail of the Charles in 12:53.0, followed by the B four 1.7 seconds later. The lightweight A four came in 12th, and the B four came in two places after. The freshmen dominated by a 30-second margin.

It was never a question of whether a Harvard four would win the Tail of the Charles. It was just a matter of which one.

After a week of practices in which the Crimson’s top-two fours had raced evenly, Harvard’s A four, which turned in a time of 12:53.0, edged out its teammates in the B four by 1.7 seconds.

The B four, meanwhile, topped third-place Brown by 12.6 seconds.

“We can’t really ask for too much more,” said captain Mike DiSanto, who stroked the B four. “Everyone really showed up this morning. Harry had been talking to us about ending the season in a good way, and I think we think we definitely did that this morning.”

Because the crews each started around 30 seconds apart, rowers were unable to gage their progress by looking at other boats.

“It was basically like a time trial,” junior three seat James O’Connor said.

“There was nothing going on around us,” added senior stroke Pat Lapage. “We had to channel any aggression into getting the most out of each other.”

The Crimson’s winning crew consisted of O’Connor, Lapage, junior Josh Hicks, sophomore Andy Holmes, and junior coxswain David Fuller.

Harvard’s B four consisted of DiSanto, sophomores Caspar Jopling and Andrew Reed, senior Sam O’Connor, and senior coxswain Alex Sopko, who is also a Crimson sports editor.

“In our boat, we knew our best competition was going to be [the A four],” DiSanto said. “We realized if we wanted to do well and be close to them, we were going to have to row a really strong race.”

One of the most impressive finishes of the day came from Harvard’s E four, which finished sixth overall.

The unexpected result was good for fifth among A fours and second among B fours.

Meanwhile, the Crimson’s D and C fours took ninth and 10th, respectively. The C, D, and E fours defeated all other C, D, and E fours. Harvard’s F, G, and H fours also won their divisions.

“The sophomores have done a good job of coming in and pushing us,” Lapage said. “No one’s taking their seats for granted. The squad as a whole is pretty competitive internally. We’re usually well prepared for racing externally.”

LIGHTWEIGHTS