M. Lights Sweep Penn, Cornell To Open Year

The Harvard men’s lightweight crew got a late jump on its national title defense, but retained its championship form, besting both Cornell and Penn in its season opener Saturday on the Cayuga Lake Inlet.

Basking in the sunshine and with mild wind conditions for the duration of the regatta, the Crimson’s seasoned veterans shone across the varsity divisions, capturing all three, highlighted by a 3.8-second win for the first boat over Cornell (3-1).

In each of the victories for Harvard (2-0), the Big Red finished second, albeit a distant second in the third varsity, 15.2 seconds off the pace.

The Quakers (0-3) finished last in all but one of the afternoon’s races—the first novice eights. In that run, Cornell took first, and the Crimson finished in last, 4.8 seconds behind the Big Red, 3.5 behind Penn.

Harvard defeated Cornell by five seconds in the second novice eight. The Quakers had no entry in the race.