Men's Crew Takes Advantage of Weather Conditions, Speeds Past Opponents

The No. 2 Harvard men’s heavyweight crew won its 14th straight Adams Cup over No. 15 Penn and No. 9 Navy Saturday. The No. 1 men’s lightweights also had a strong performance this weekend. The team won its fourth-straight Goldthwait Cup at the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet.

HEAVYWEIGHTS

The men’s heavyweight team earned wins in the first eight, second varsity, and freshman race Saturday morning in excellent conditions on the Charles River.

The first varsity eight beat the Midshipmen and the Quakers with a winning time of 5:39.7. The Crimson was dominant from the start and stretched its lead to open water over the course of the race, ultimately beating second-place Penn by more than eight seconds.

“We were aware Navy and Penn would really try and drop the hammer around the 900-meter mark,” said senior Josh Hicks, the third seat in the first varsity boat. “We prepared for it and pressed our advantage off the start…. We didn’t really care where they were after a certain point and focused on our boat and putting together a complete race.”

The second varsity won what would be the closest race of the day, posting a 1.8 second victory over Navy.

Though Harvard won the majority of the races on the day, the third and fourth varsity races belonged to the Midshipmen. Navy completed the course in 6:03.6 to beat the Crimson by just over five seconds in the third varsity race, while the Midshipmen’s fourth varsity boat recorded a nine second advantage over the second-place Quakers.

Harvard ended the day on a high note with a win by its freshman boat in 5:52.4 to beat second-place Penn.

“We realize that a cocky attitude can cost you races that you should win,” Hicks said. “We try to avoid that attitude by looking back to tough races in previous years against Penn and Navy to get us fired up. We aren’t thinking about how we are undefeated or anything. It is always just ‘next practice, next race.’”

LIGHTWEIGHTS

The No. 1 first varsity boat showed its dominance at the annual HYP regatta by defeating No. 2 Yale and No. 6 Princeton to earn the Goldthwait Cup in Princeton, N.J. on Saturday. The Crimson also won the Vogel cup for its team performance, winning four of the five races on the day.

The Bulldogs held the lead in the varsity race through the entire first half of the competition. However, at the 1,000-meter mark the Harvard varsity eight started to make its move. The Crimson was able to eke out the come-from-behind victory by just 1.4 seconds.

“We knew Yale was going to be fast and that we were going to have to work to reel them in later,” said junior Michael Wales, second seat of the first varsity boat. “We weren’t really expecting to be that far down at the 1,000-meter mark, but about that time is when I felt the boat really shift. I could tell that was the point we started to move on them, and that last 500 was some of the best rowing we have had all season.”

In the second varsity race, Harvard led for most of the way, but was challenged by a charging Tigers boat near the finish. Harvard was able to hold off Princeton for the win while Yale took third in the race.

The third varsity race also belonged to the Crimson as Harvard finished with a time of 6:15.2, a full five seconds ahead of the second-place Bulldogs. The lone loss for the Crimson on the day came in the freshman eight, as Yale took first and the Tigers took second.

In the first race of the morning, the two Harvard freshman fours started the day off strong with a one-two finish over Princeton.

“I think the whole team is pretty stoked about the results we had today,” Wales said. “Three wins across the board—it was great weather against stiff competition. It was a pretty solid weekend for all Harvard boats.”

As it is for many other Crimson sports teams, the HYP meet is an important meet with a long tradition. As of late, the Harvard lightweights have been nothing less than dominant in the annual event, winning eight out of the past 11 Vogel cups while pushing its streak of Golthwait Cups to four.

“The HYP is always a special event,” Wales said. “The rowers and the alumni really get up for it and the three programs are full of talented athletes year after year.”