Crimson Sweeps Huskies On Charles

Talk about making a statement at exactly the right time. In its last home dual race before the crucial Eastern Sprints next weekend, the No. 5 men’s heavyweight varsity eight thrashed No. 7 Northeastern Saturday morning, dominating its Charles River rival with a 10.5 second victory.

“Northeastern’s obviously a very strong opponent, and we anticipated that,” said captain and second-varsity six seat Teddy Schreck. “I think today was really just a good opportunity for us to go out there and exercise the things we worked on all week.”

The Crimson completed the sweep of the Huskies in the varsity and freshman contests, winning all five of its races for the second weekend in a row. It was a thorough performance reminiscent of last year’s showdown with Northeastern, albeit with one important difference.

Back then, the Harvard varsity eight managed to grab the lead over the Huskies with 20 strokes to go and held on for a 0.7 second margin of victory. This year’s marquee matchup of two of the nation’s top-ranked teams was far less dramatic—not that the Crimson was complaining.

“We do know that they like to come out and have an opportunity to take us off, and last year they did race us down to the line,” Schreck said. “This year we knew they were going to do the same thing…we were lucky enough to come out and have the race we did.”

Harvard’s undefeated first varsity boat staved off a quick start by the Huskies and pulled away in the opening minutes to a two-seat lead at the 250 meter mark. By the time the crews reached the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, the Crimson had a clear advantage and used the remaining time to expand its lead, finishing the 2,000-meter race in 6:10.7, while the Huskies came in at 6:21.2.

“It was a pretty stiff headwind today,” said varsity eight stroke Simon Gawlik. “Coming off the line, Northeastern hung with us for a good bit, but we were able to get up on them and continuously increase our margin. It seemed like we handled the conditions a little bit better.”

The convincing win, the 12th in a row over Northeastern in the varsity eight, gave Harvard the 21st Charlie Smith Cup and its sixth win of the season.

The Harvard second and third varsity eight got in on the fun as well, finishing 1-2 in the second varsity race. The Crimson 2V got off to a great start and extended its advantage throughout the race, while the third varsity eight trailed the Huskies most of the race.

The crew then found an extra gear as it passed the MIT boathouse, pulling even with Northeastern and eventually ahead into the second spot. The Crimson 2V finished in 6:17.4 for its second win of the year, while the 3V followed at 6:24.5 and Northeastern clocked in at 6:26.8.

“It’s nice to have that sort of depth,” Schreck said. “The third varsity boat was fortunate enough to come out and top their JV, and I think that shows how deep our program actually is. It’s good to see that all the work from top to bottom is really paying off.”

The EARC top-ranked freshman eight maintained its perfect record by pulling away from Dartmouth in the second half of its race, while both boats finished ahead of Northeastern. Harvard completed the course in 6:20.5, while Dartmouth finished in 6:26.9 and Northeastern clocked in at 6:34.0.

In the varsity four race, both Crimson boats finished ahead of the Husky crew. Harvard’s A entry held at least a boat-length lead the entire way, while the second Crimson four tussled with Northeastern early on before coming out on top in the final 750 meters.

Harvard’s second freshman eight, ranked second in the EARC, defeated seventh-ranked Boston University in the day’s first race, coming out strong and finding open water the rest of the way in a 22-second win.

Now the Crimson must gear up for the EARC Sprints May 10 in Worcester, Mass, one of its biggest races of the season.

“To have the results we did today was pretty encouraging,” Schreck said. “We know there is some speed to pick up, and there is also some momentum to carry us into Sprints, which is a race we put a lot of attention on throughout the year.”

“We’re not ranked first going into Eastern Sprints,” Gawlik added. “There’s a lot of crews up there with us, and we’re not going to underestimate anybody.”

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.