Athletes of the Week: Freshmen Heavyweight Crew

Harvard’s varsity heavyweight boat earned a second place finish and received nine Second Team All-Ivy mentions, but the freshman heavyweight crew brought home the Crimson Heavyweights’ 54th Eastern title.

Strong tailwinds on Worcester’s Lake Quinsigamond helped everyone to record-breaking times in all six events of the day, including the first freshman boat’s time of 5:35.98 that broke the course record for freshman crews.

“We started to fulfill the potential we had,” said Justin Webb. “We dictated the pace of the race.”

“We knew we could win if we rowed as well as we have been,” said stroke-seat Kip McDaniel.

“Of course, that’s not easy,” he added.

Harvard’s first freshman boat entered the regatta with the top seed and a record of 7-1-its only loss to Brown on April 14. The Crimson’s winning time broke the freshman course record by five seconds and left second-place Princeton, which finished in 5:40.05, solidly in its wake.

“It was fantastic,” said freshman coach Bill Manning. “They were able to put it together. We had 18 rowers come home with gold medals and it’s great to see it happen with the whole squad.”

The freshman boat consisted of Webb, McDaniel, Will Riffelmacher, Jonathan Lehe, Cameron Winklevoss, Jonathan Durham, Ray Hohenstein, Mark Hall and coxswain Jesse Oberst.

Coxswain Cristin Chinn, stroke Andrew Serke, John-Neil Thompson, Alex Chastain-Chapman, Jeremy King, Jordan Sagalowsky, Tyler Winklevoss, Justin Puleo and Sam Bryson comprised the second boat, which also took first-place in its event.

The second boat, in the midst of a shaky season, came into the regatta with the second seed.

“We under-performed all year,” King said. “Our coach described us as a Jekyll-and-Hyde crew. We never knew which crew would come out. We pulled it together on Sunday for two incredible races.”

The excellent performances of both freshman boats promise even more for Harvard in the future.

“Going back to Head of the Charles, there have been 15 different people in the first boat,” Manning said. “We’re fortunate to have a group of athletes with comparable ability. We’re lucky that that ability is so high.”

Harvard won its 17th title for Harvard freshman and its astounding 54 titles overall are more than double that of the closest crew-Penn who has 23.5.

The 136th Harvard-Yale Regatta on the Thames River in New London, Conn., looms as America’s oldest intercollegiate athletic event and promises excitement in the races between the ancient rivals.

“We’re pretty confident,” McDaniel said. “But [Yale] has a history of coming back and beating unsuspecting Harvard crews.”

With funding, the freshman crew hopes to travel farther than Connecticut before the season is over. Traditionally, a crew that wins Eastern Sprints also ventures to England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames River in July.