Not only did Harvard win all of its races, but the Crimson’s second and third varsity eights posted times that were better than those of the Quakers’ first and second varsity eights, respectively.
“We went into the race knowing that we should win,” Meyer said of the first varsity eight race, which his boat won by 8.7 seconds. “We got a strong start and had a nice, cool, relaxed, powerful rhythm.”
The second varsity eight was even more dominant, winning the race by 13.2 seconds.
Arguably the highlight of the day was the first freshman race. After the first freshman eight lost to Delaware two weekends ago, it came back to beat a Penn squad that took down the Blue Hens’ 1F last weekend.
“It was great to see our first freshman [eight] beat a crew that beat a crew that beat them,” Meyer said. “They looked really strong, and I’m looking forward to seeing them improve throughout the season.”
Harvard completed the sweep with a win in the second freshman race. Both of the Crimson’s second freshman fours beat the Quakers’ entry in the race.
No. 3 HEAVYWEIGHTS vs. No. 7 BROWN
In the first race of the weekend, Harvard won all of its races against its rival from Providence in the lone home men’s race of the weekend.
“Overall it was a great show of our depth and the commitment of all our guys—all the guys in the boat club—to have a sweep of Brown, which hasn’t happened in a while,” said junior Nick Jordan, who rowed in the six seat of the first varsity eight.
The first varsity eight opened up the day with a 2.6 second win a year after the Bears dealt the Crimson 1V its only dual loss all season.
“We were sort of jumpy off the start and actually had a really, really fast first 500 and got up to basically a length lead [in the] first 400, 300-400 meters,” Jordan said.
But in the middle 1000 of the race, the Bears were able to push their bow back into Harvard’s hull.
“We took it a little high off the start, and then in the middle of the race, we got a little bit complacent,” Jordan said. “They sort of moved back to a third of a length of overlap, and we sprinted away from them to maybe a full length. It was good to get a win, but we thought we could have put together a better performance, overall.”
The second varsity eight race had no such drama; the Crimson won by almost 12 seconds.
“They just smoked them,” Jordan said. “They just held them off the start and were taking a seat every three strokes, and they didn’t stop the entire race ... That was really fun to watch online.”
The 2V posted the biggest win of the day, while the third varsity eight, freshman eight, and fourth varsity/second freshman eight all defeated their Brown counterparts to ensure the sweep.
—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.