The Crimson lightweights came away from this weekend’s Harvard-Yale-Princeton competition with all the hardware they could muster, as the No. 2 varsity eight took first over the Tigers by one second to claim Goldthwait Cup, and the squad earned the Vogel Cup as the overall team champion.

Harvard-Yale-Princeton never needs an introduction, but the rivalry takes on special significance when the schools are ranked first, second, and fourth in the country.

In lightweight dual racing, it simply doesn’t get any bigger than this.

With the stakes the highest they’ve been all season, the Crimson lightweights delivered their best performance yet.

No. 2 Harvard’s first and second varsity eights both earned victories over the No. 1 Tigers and No. 4 Bulldogs in the team’s final dual race and the seniors’ last race ever on the Charles.

The victory in the first varsity eight gave the Crimson the Goldthwait Cup for the second straight year and will, in all likelihood, grant Harvard the top seed at EARC Sprints and the top spot in the national rankings.

The Crimson second varsity eight also likely earned itself the top seed at Sprints, and the top two eights led Harvard to a runaway victory in the Vogel Cup, which uses a points-based system to recognize the top team finish. The Crimson won with 36 points, while Princeton was second with 23 and Yale was third with 21.

FIRST AND SECOND VARSITY EIGHTS

They say that third 500 meters is where races are won and lost.

Indeed, the Harvard 1V’s dominant third 500 sent it straight to the top of the nation.

The Tigers took a slight lead in the race’s early stages, but all three crews were fairly even in the first half of the race.

“I think we were probably a seat or maybe two seats down in the first 750 meters,” seven seat Austin Meyer said.

“It was pretty much neck and neck across all three crews,” added captain and six seat Will Newell.

But all that changed when the Crimson crossed through the Mass. Ave Bridge.

“We made a really strong push in the third 500 that got us five or six seats,” Meyer said.

Harvard’s pace proved too much for the Bulldogs to handle.