Harvard men’s heavyweight and lightweight crew both competed in Worcester, Mass. on Sunday for the EARC Sprints championship. While the heavyweights were defeated in the first varsity race, they came away with a freshman eight title and an overall team win.  The lightweights secured the varsity title for the second year in a row and placed second as a team.

HEAVYWEIGHTS

The Harvard heavyweights secured their 32nd Rowe Cup for overall team performance due to their success on the water this weekend. The freshman eight placed first in both its heat and the grand final. In the final race, the Crimson took an early lead but Northeastern continued to push them to the finish. Harvard edged out the Huskies by 2.2 seconds, completing the course in 6:02.621.

“The races went great for the freshmen,” said captain Michael DiSanto, seven seat of the first varsity boat. “That was really good to see because they are a good group of guys and it is their first year here. The future of the program is in good hands with them.”

The first varsity race proved to be a heated contest between Brown and the Crimson in the final stretches. Harvard had the lead at the halfway point, but the Bears were able to pull ahead at the end of the race and finish less than a second in front of the Crimson.  This second place finish was the varsity’s first loss of the season.

“We felt that we had a good race,” DiSanto said. “There is nothing more that we could have done differently.  It is frustrating, but you can’t be too down about it. It is tough to lose, but if you are going to lose that is how it should be done.”

The second varsity eight also had a close second place finish behind Wisconsin.  The third varsity eight and second freshman eight both finished third in 6:14.856 and 6:47.721, respectively.  The fourth varsity boat edged out Brown by just over two seconds to win its race.

The heavyweights’ next challenge is the Harvard-Yale Regatta in two weeks before they compete at IRA National Championships.

“We are going to train hard,” DiSanto said. “We want to get faster. That is the mentality of everyone in the program.”

LIGHTWEIGHTS

With two straight first-place finishes, both in the heat and the grand final, the No. 1 lightweights' first varsity eight secured the EARC Sprints title. Harvard repeated its victory from last year to record its 26th Sprints championship.

In the morning heat, the Crimson faced tough competitors Princeton, Yale, Navy and Penn. Harvard edged out Princeton by 2.088 seconds, and then had to prepare itself for the final race.

“We knew we had to do two things today: win the heat and then the final,” said senior Angela Chang, coxswain of the first varsity eight. “Right after the heat we were just trying to recover as quickly as possible. The turnaround was pretty short so it was important that everyone stay focused to get ready for the big event of the day.”

Once again, the Crimson crew was slated to race Ivy League rivals Princeton and Yale.  The first varsity eight had defeated both schools at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton regatta, their final, and most heated, dual race of the season.

“I am really proud that we were able to stay composed going to the starting line, especially in a championship race," Chang said. "There is a lot of adrenaline rush and a lot of high emotion, but we were able to execute our race plan.”

Harvard took the lead early on in the race and held on to win in 6:22.510, defeating Dartmouth by a margin of 2.2 seconds.

“We had a headwind that picked up for our race, the last race of the day,” said senior Tim Moore, six seat of the first varsity eight. “All credit is due to Dartmouth and Princeton and the rest of the crews for pushing us all the way down the course. We never felt comfortable with our lead. Under tough conditions it was good to see us maintain our cool and come away with a win.”

The second freshman eight also had a successful outing, winning the grand final race in 6:33.407.  The second varsity placed fourth in its heat and then went on to edge out Georgetown by less than a second to take the petite final race.

In the first freshman eight race, the Crimson faced off against Yale and Princeton. The Harvard crew placed third, 1.3 seconds behind the Tigers. The third varsity boat finished in second behind Cornell in their grand final race.

“I was really pleased with how we rowed and coming away with a win always feels good, but we have more work to do yet,” Moore said. “We are eager for these next three weeks of more training. We still have a really important race ahead of us.”