M., W. Rowers Pull Big Finishes in Indoor Meet

In what is perhaps one of the most ironic sporting events of the year, an indoor rowing competition, the Harvard and Radcliffe crew teams placed very well individually over the weekend at the C.R.A.S.H.-B.s, or World Indoor Rowing Championships, in the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Co-captain Pat Todd pulled a 6:21.8 in the first heat to qualify for the lightweight men’s final where he dropped to 6:13.7, notching second place. Senior Duncan Hilton also placed ninth with 6:23.8.

“We took C.R.A.S.H-B.s pretty seriously,” Todd said. “A lot of guys have been putting in extra work the last two months.”

Overall, 10 rowers from the men’s lightweight team finished inside the top-80. Also, last year’s lightweight men’s assistant coach Andrew Hilton placed 10th in the international final pulling a 6:23.8.

On the women’s side in the lightweight division, junior co-captain Erin Barnhart led the way with a second-place finish in 7:18.6.

“The finals are pretty intense,” Barnhart said. “I was scared to death when it started but I had a good piece.”

Freshman Malcolm Howard led the way for the Crimson in the open division, claiming a 29th place finish with a 6:02.6 pull. The top upperclassman was sophomore Cameron Winklevoss who placed one spot behind Howard and just .1 seconds off his time.

The heavyweight women claimed the best individual results for the day. Captain Michelle Guerette placed second with a pull of 6:44.0 while sophomore Caryn Davies was hot on her heels, just 7.7 seconds back to grab third place.

“This is the first time I can remember that Radcliffe put so many people into the finals,” Barnhart said. “We took half the medals.”

The two heavyweight teams start their outdoor seasons in the last week of March while the lightweights begin in the first weekend of April.