M. Heavyweight Crew Stuns Tigers by Six-Plus Seconds in New Jersey

On Saturday, the Harvard men’s heavyweight crew traded its former status as “giant” for that of “giant-killer,” shocking host Princeton in a six-second victory at Lake Carnegie.

The Crimson might have entered the race an underdog for the first time in over two years, but the varsity boat left little doubt that the Harvard crew of 2005 is every bit as competitive as the boats that won national championships in 2003 and 2004.

In last year’s race against Princeton, Harvard escaped with a 1.6-second win—its closest victory by several seconds.

That close finish was nowhere to be found on Saturday.

Princeton came into the race with a No. 1 ranking, though the Tigers had not defeated Harvard in a dual race since 2001. They caught no breaks on Saturday, either, as the No. 4 Crimson buried Princeton by two boat lengths. MIT came in a distant third.

“I don’t really put much faith in rankings,” captain five-seat Aaron Holzapfel said. “Rankings don’t win races.”

Initially, however, the Tigers lived up to their billing. Princeton jumped out of the start with a half-boat-length lead, holding four seats over the Crimson in the race’s opening strokes. But Harvard didn’t panic, and by the time the Crimson settled into its base cadence, Princeton saw its early advantage start to slip away.

“We wanted to start as hot as we could and keep the boats as level as we could,” sophomore three-seat Toby Medaris said.

Harvard’s steady base cadence brought the varsity boat near even with the Tigers after the race’s first 500 meters. For the first 250 meters of the second 500, both boats traded minimal leads, with neither establishing a definitive advantage.

At 750 meters down, the Crimson shattered the race’s early parity with a strong move into the 1,000-meter mark.

“After the one thousand, we kept applying pressure and methodically moved away,” Holzapfel said. “We really started to take the race over.”

“We did have a really strong move at the one thousand,” Medaris said. “That was our goal going into the race.”

Near the halfway point, Harvard pulled ahead of the MIT boat, which had stayed relatively close to the Crimson after the start. Princeton also fell slightly off the pace.

“As you move up on a boat,” Medaris said, “you become more confident and start to move ahead.”

Heading into the last 500 meters, Harvard maintained a solid advantage over Princeton. Though the Tigers’ attempts to even the spread with aggressive moves in the second 1,000 meters, the Crimson held a steady, aggressive pace heading into the final 500 meters.

Harvard made a final push in the last 500 meters to counter an anticipated early Tigers sprint.

Princeton never managed to make up the ground it lost in the middle 1,000 meters of the race, and the Crimson steadily widened the margin in the last stretch of the course despite a headwind.

“We made another move at the last 500 and then just sprinted to the finish,” Medaris said.

Harvard finished in 5:48.2—the team’s fastest time at Princeton since 1995—and Princeton crossed the line with a time of 5:54.6. Over a boat-length of open water separated the two crews. MIT finished a very distant third in 6:35.9.

“We’re an especially young crew,” Medaris said. “A win over such a quality opponent was really an incredible thing. It helps us to become more confident in ourselves.”

The victory marked the 19th-consecutive dual win for the Crimson, which has not lost a dual race since 2001. On the afternoon, the Crimson claimed three of four races to capture the Compton Cup.

Only the second varsity fell for the Crimson Saturday, coming in with a time of 6:15.6 to Princeton’s 6:11.9.

The first freshman boat rebounded from last Saturday’s close loss to Brown with a solid five-second victory over a talented Princeton crew. Harvard finished in 6:13.3, Princeton was next in 6:18.3, and MIT crossed in third with a time of 7:06.4.

“That’s an outstanding thing for [the freshmen],” Medaris said. “They’re to be given much credit to be able to come back from a loss the week before and put it all on the line against one of the number one crews in Princeton.”

The third varsity boat trounced Princeton by four boat-lengths, coming in with a time of 6:39.1. Princeton finished in 6:51.3.

Yesterday, the second novice boat dispatched MIT with similar ease, winning by open water.

Next Saturday, Harvard will again be on the road in Philadelphia to face Penn and Navy for the Adams Cup. Last year, Harvard swept all five races on the Charles en route to the squad’s fifth consecutive Adams Cup win.

In search of its 20th-consecutive dual victory, the varsity boat will put its unblemished 3-0 record on the line.

“This [win] gives us great confidence, but we’re being cautious and trying not to read too much into the margins,” Medaris said. “We all know it’s going to be tough from here on.”

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.