Lightweights Weather Cold Conditions

Maybe we should call the Harvard lightweight crew team the Michelin oarsmen.

The squad proved its all-weather capabilities this Saturday, crushing Penn and Cornell in 35-degree weather and under snowy skies in Ithaca, N.Y., just two weeks after winning the San Diego Crew Classic in balmy conditions.

The Crimson finished the course in 6:32.8, finishing a commanding eight seconds in front of the Quakers and sixteen seconds in front of the Big Red.

"They found out that San Diego wasn't a fluke," said senior coxswain Mark Coyne, referring to the squad's 10-second victory over the same Penn squad two weeks ago.

Quakers Try to Shake Free

Penn pulled off the starting line this weekend with a high stroke rate, trying to pull ahead of the favored Crimson and utilize a strong head wind in the last 300 meters to deny any comeback.

But Harvard was able to stay with the Quakers for the first 500 meters despite a lower stroke rate. Then the Crimson lightweights made their move, as Penn was forced to slow its pace while Cornell, which had fallen behind badly in the first 200 meters, never recovered.

"After about 800 meters, it was clear that they couldn't hold pace," Harvard senior Mike Horvath said. "Penn surprised us last year by hanging with us, and we got flustered. I guess they were trying to do the same thing this year and were hoping for us to make a mistake."

This year, however, the Crimson strokes were flawless, and the crew pulled away to a commanding lead at the halfway point of the race and cruised to its third consecutive victory.

It was an excellent day for all of the lightweight crews, as Harvard posted three of the four fastest times of the day and swept all five races. The Crimson JV won its race in 6:38.6, and the freshman light weight squad was victorious in 6:47.8, a time fast enough to beat the Cornell varsity crew.

THE NOTEBOOK: The lightweights will race against Dartmouth and MIT this weekend in what should be a faster race due to the swift currents on the course in Hanover.