Injury-Riddled M. Lightweights Can’t Defend National Title

After a season plagued by injury, the Harvard lightweight crew finally won a race. But it was far from the gold last year’s Crimson varsity secured at the national championship, as Harvard failed to qualify for the Grand Final and was relegated to the Petite Final, where it won the race to place seventh overall.

“Rowing in the Petite Final was pretty embarrassing,” said co-captain Pat Todd, who now travels to Princeton to vie for a spot in the world championships and eventually the Olympics. “You already know you lost, so it’s kind of pointless.”

“Not to take anything away from other schools, but our program is strong enough to challenge for the IRA title each year—we always expect to race well enough to make the grand final,” said co-captain and coxswain Joe Finelli.

The Crimson never had a break during its season chock full of threatening competition.

In the season opener, a grand beginning for Harvard was thwarted when Cornell won the Matthews Cup, leaving the Crimson in second and Penn last.

Over the next weeks, as Harvard fell to Dartmouth, Navy and Georgetown, the Crimson became fully aware that riding out a season on a previous national championship and a legacy wasn’t an option and resuscitating measures ensued.

“After the Georgetown race, we took a look at ourselves and realized that we’re not getting nearly enough boat speed after all the work we put in,” Finelli said. “We did a lot of seat racing and started from scratch. We got some new guys in the boat and set a new lineup.”

The rowers also took a look at their attitudes, remembered how to have fun and enjoy their sport.

But the fresh boats had little practice time before its toughest dual meet against Yale and Princeton. The Elis had something to prove after holding the top rank and winning sprints last year, only to lose the national title to the Crimson at IRAs. Harvard’s surprise victory there was no surprise, given that the Crimson has won the national title every odd year since 1991.

But on the Charles River on May 4, Yale came through, winning the Goldthwait Cup, while then-No. 3 Princeton took second. While the Crimson’s improvements were evident in the margin of victory, they did not affect the result.

“Unfortunately, our best rowing was during practice and never during a race. Making improvements during practice takes hard work and is satisfying to an extent, but by itself it’s not enough,” Finelli said.

In addition to new lineups and renewed motivations, Harvard also looked forward to several of its rowers returning from injury, such as Todd, sophomore Alex Binkley and junior captain-elect Nick Blannin. Blannin and Binkley returned mid-season and Todd rejoined the first boat just in time for EARC Sprints.

“It also meant a lot to me and to the other guys that we had three varsity guys who were determined to make it back into the boat after suffering some serious injuries this spring,” Finelli said.

At Sprints, the Crimson varsity managed to improve on its fifth seed to place seventh, while the Elis repeated as champions. Meanwhile, both the second varsity and first freshman boats placed fifth in their events, and the second freshman crew put together Harvard’s best finish of the day at third.

The Crimson had another chance for redemption, at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association’s National Championship, held last weekend. But Harvard came up a bit short of its expectations, as the varsity boat placed seventh. Harvard also sent in an open four, a freshman four and a pair that placed 14th, fourth and sixth, respectively.

In the weeks leading up to sprints and IRAs, Harvard had juggled its lineups, looking for revitalization and speed. And though the shifts came through during practices, they unfortunately did not translate to better racing results in the end.

For the seniors that have seen national championships, but never seventh place, the end was disheartening.

Then again, disappointment to be seventh in the nation attests to the excellence of Harvard’s program.

“This past racing season has been a true disappointment, there’s no way around it,” Finelli said. “But that just goes to show how high the expectations are around here, and that’s a good thing. I feel very lucky to have become part of a program that prepares you to win and makes you feel like it’s not good enough if you ever lose.”

MEN'S LIGHTWEIGHT CREW

RESULTS 5th at EARCs, 7th at IRAs

COACH Charley Butt

CAPTAINS Joe Finelli, Pat Todd

HIGHTLIGHTS With the disappointing finish at nationals this year, the first varsity maintained its streak of winning national titles in odd years (every one since 1991) and falling short in even years. The Petite Final at IRAs was the only race the first varsity boat won all season.