Harvard and Radcliffe Crew Excel at Stonehurst Regatta

On the weekend before the Head of the Charles Regatta, the Harvard and Radcliffe crew teams dominated their fields at this weekend's Stonehurst Regatta in Rochester, N.Y., an important fall event.

On the water of the Genesee River, once a major industrial thruway for northern New York State, the Harvard heavyweight men surged ahead of a 31-school field to take the title in 29:00.07, nearly ten seconds better than second-place Brown.

All times were taken from a 3-mile trial in the morning and a 1,500 meter side-by-side sprint in the afternoon. The sprint time was then tripled to get the cumulative figure.

The large field also included boats from Ivy opponents Yale, Dartmouth and Cornell.

This was the first win of the year for a boat that is coming off a 6-1 season, including the team's 36th straight appearance in the Grand Finals of the Eastern Sprints.

Although the field was considerably smaller, the Harvard lightweight eight were equally impressive. The team got way out in front of the other three boats in the race, finishing in 30:18.32. Cornell finished in second-place with a time of 30:33.07, well behind the men from Newell.

The most dominating performance of the day came from the Radcliffe heavyweight boat. In a field that included 27 schools, the Black and White posted the best time in both the morning trial and the afternoon sprint for a cumulative of 32:52.49.

Syracuse, one of Radcliffe's biggest Eastern rivals, finished more than 20 seconds back in 33:13.94 to capture second place. Cornell finished fifth with a time of 34:43.82.

The Head of the Charles Regatta is this weekend, down along the river.