The lightweight crew went into this weekend’s races fresh off of losses to Yale and Princeton at the annual HYP regatta two weeks prior.

“After losing at HYP, we were really looking to close the gap between us and those crews,” Bonorris said. “And we certainly did that this weekend. The goal can only be improvement, and that’s what we showed.”

The freshman eight posted the highest placing performance of the day, claiming second place in its sprint.  The boat put up a strong fight, finishing four seconds behind Penn in Grand Finals.

Both the first and second varsity boats claimed fifth-place finishes at the regatta.  With a time of 5:46, the varsity eight rowed competitively, staying in the contest until the very end.

The 2V group outperformed its own showing that morning by four seconds in the finals. In spite of this marked improvement, the Crimson again fell short of the podium.

“I thought that across the board all of the boats had strong races,” Bonorris said. “We showed some of the strongest performances we’ve seen all year, and I think that’s the most important thing. If you can show improvement from race to race, that’s what really matters.”

—Staff writer Jillian Dukes can be reached at jdukes01@college.harvard.edu.