Victories Highlight Rowers’ Weekend

The Harvard men’s lightweight rowers swept Dartmouth and MIT to win the Biglin Bowl, and the heavyweight team took three out of five races from Brown to capture the Stein Cup Saturday morning on the Charles River.

The second-ranked lightweight varsity eight never trailed en route to a 12.1 second win over Dartmouth. The Crimson led by a length at the halfway point and continued to stretch the lead for the duration of the course. The win improves the varsity eight to 6-0.

The second varsity eight followed suit by getting ahead early and never trailing as it clocked in at 6:19.3 for an 8.8 second victory over the Big Green.

“We had a really solid performance today,” sophomore Andrew Trott said. “The team’s been working hard and the results are starting to show. With every race we improve, and it definitely helps to…have a good race, especially with good boats to race against.”

The Crimson freshman eight opened the regatta for Harvard with a victory in which it also never trailed. Harvard and Dartmouth pulled away from MIT early, and the Crimson held a 4.7 second advantage with a 6:08.8 finish. Harvard’s second and third freshmen also had impressive showings, both defeating Dartmouth’s second freshmen. The Crimson’s second freshman boat rowed a 6:47.6, while the third freshman clocked in at 7:00.2 to narrowly beat the Dartmouth second freshman by 1.2 seconds.

Harvard held a comfortable lead throughout in the varsity four race and defeated the Big Green by 6.6 seconds to round out the sweep.

“We certainly put the training we’ve been doing all year to good use,” sophomore Jared Dourdeville said. “All the guys rowed strong and we had a good showing, but some of our toughest competition is yet to come. We have to build momentum and strength heading into championships—we can’t be complacent sitting where we are but we have to keep looking forward.”

The Harvard heavyweight varsity eight also had a strong showing at home, holding off a staunch Brown rally to secure a one-second victory in the Stein Cup.

The fourth-ranked Crimson took the early lead over the sixth-ranked Bears and nearly had a full-length lead shortly after the midway point. Brown rallied in the final 250 meters, but Harvard held on to finish the 2,000-meter course in 5:47. With this victory both the lightweights and heavyweights recaptured their coveted trophies.

“We obviously expected some competitive racing,” captain Teddy Schreck said. “It’s definitely an early test. We had a look at Brown last week, and we knew they were going to be fast. It was a good experience for us, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top.”

The freshman eight ran a solid race in its first outing of the spring to clinch a 3.4 second victory over the Bears. The Crimson came out ahead early and continued to build on its lead as it clocked in at 5:59.8. The Bears bounced back with a 3.1 second victory in the second freshman eight.

Like their lighter counterparts, Harvard’s heavyweights dominated the varsity four race, as four Harvard boats finished ahead of the Brown boat.

The A boat won the heat with a 6:29, with the B boat just one second back. The D boat finished in 6:37 and the C crew finished two seconds back with 6:39, besting the Bears by three seconds. It was Brown who jumped to an early lead in the second varsity eight. The Crimson was able to keep it close and apply some pressure, but was never able to pull ahead as Brown rowed a 5:56 to win by five seconds.

By getting so many of its boats into the water on the Charles, Harvard gained valuable perspective on the challenges that lie ahead in the spring season.

“It’s definitely nice to have an indication of the crews, especially Brown since we will see them in the future,” Schreck said. “Different crews will bring different things, and it’s nice to know what to expect when you line six boats across and to know who could come through down the stretch.”

The lightweights will remain at home this weekend to take on Navy for the Haines Cup for its final dual race on the Charles, while the heavyweights will travel to Annapolis, M.D. to face Navy and Penn for the Adams Cup.