The Harvard lightweight men’s crew team headed down to Princeton this Sunday to compete in the annual Princeton Chase Regatta. With boats representing the Crimson in the 8+, 4+, and freshman races, Harvard managed to snag several top finishes on Lake Carnegie this weekend.
“The Chase is always a great opportunity to meet the competition from Head of the Charles in a different setting and get some racing experience in small boats,” sophomore Ian Meyer said.
This was the Crimson’s first race since its second place finish at Head of the Charles two weeks ago.
“I thought that our team put in a very strong showing this weekend,” captain Alexander Bonorris said. “For the team as a whole, this was the first opportunity for some of the guys to race this fall, as there are not enough boats in the Head of the Charles to boat everyone on the team.”
In the Varsity 8+ division, Harvard was outraced by Ivy League foes Cornell and Yale, clinching a third place finish at 13:27. Harvard had to put up a strong fight to keep Princeton off its heels and stay in third, as the Tigers finished less than two seconds behind the Crimson.
The Crimson’s strongest performance of the day came from the first string lightweight four, who managed to win the race to claim Harvard’s sole first place finish of the day. Led by Bonorris, who was joined by sophomores Tom Marshal, Jack Kelly and Michael Wales, the quad coasted into a leading position, finishing with a time of 14:51. The four were a solid seven seconds ahead of their closest competitor, giving them a comfortable margin on the victory.
This lightweight 4+ race was dominated by the Crimson, as the second Harvard boat took third place in the heat with a time of 15:15.
“Our top varsity eight broke down into two fours, and the top four was able to win the event for the 5th year in a row,” Bonorris said. “Having our two boats beat every other crew except for the Yale A boat was a truly spectacular result, and it shows that our program has a great deal of depth and strength.”
Harvard’s freshman eight showed a strong effort on the day as well with a fourth place finish. The crew finished behind two Princeton boats and Penn’s eight.
“The hope this weekend was to try to put a piece together in every boat that would be an improvement over our results from last weekend,” Bonorris said. “And I think our results show that we did that.. We are definitely in the pack, and we know what we have to do to continue improving.”
Harvard lightweights will return to competition November 22, as they compete at the Foot of the Charles regatta.
—Staff writer Jillian Dukes can be reached at jdukes01@college.harvard.edu.
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