In the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton regatta, the biggest dual race of the season for the Crimson lightweights, Harvard was able to finish off its undefeated dual season with a varsity and team win on Saturday in Derby, Conn.

The competition between these three top teams also provides a good indicator going into Sprints.

“We like to think of HYP as the first of our championship races,” said senior Tim Moore, six seat of the first varsity eight. “It’s an old rivalry between all three of the schools.  We know that all of the teams get up for it and come ready to race us. We definitely were excited to bring one of our best pieces yesterday.”

The first varsity boat, starting in the middle lane, took an open-water lead on Princeton early on and finished in 5:31.2, 4.2 seconds ahead of the Tigers and six seconds ahead of Yale.  The Crimson, steered by senior coxswain Angela Chang, expertly handled the significant turn in the Yale course.

“It is an interesting course with a big turn,” said sophomore Michael Wales, bow seat of the first varsity eight. “When you are sitting on the start line, it appears that you are down.  It is a mental barrier that we had to work past and overcome.”

Harvard’s additional victories in the third varsity and second freshman races allowed the team to secure the Vogel Cup because of the overall team win. The second varsity eight fell to both Yale and Princeton, while the first freshman eight lost to the Tigers by a narrow 1.4-second margin.

After losing to Yale by .02 seconds in last season’s first varsity race at IRA National Championships, the 1V was excited to have had such a strong showing against their rival team.

“We have a bad taste in our mouth,” Moore said about last year’s results. “There is some revenge to be had.  But close racing is what is great about the league. We use that as motivation to remind us of what we are working towards.”

As the Crimson lightweights approach Sprints in two weeks, they are working on maintaining their edge and positive trajectory while trying to avoid the complacency that comes with a top ranking.

“The easy thing to do would be to say, ‘We had an undefeated season and we are the number one seed, so Sprints is going to be locked up,’” Wales said. “But going forward we are going to step our game up.  Yeah, we’re fast, but we need to get faster.”

—Staff writer Alexa N. Gellman can be reached at agellman@college.harvard.edu.