Men's Heavyweight Crew Returns to Head of the Oklahoma

With a cool breeze blowing from the Oklahoma river, rowers from all walks of life racing past in competition with one another, and the banks of the river teeming with even more spectators, the Harvard men’s heavyweight crew team found itself on familiar waters on Saturday in Oklahoma City as it prepared to compete in the Head of the Oklahoma regatta. The Crimson looked to maintain its place at the head of the Head, building off of its two-win streak that it had established in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

“There was a little bit of pressure on us to stay ahead of some pretty solid schools that we wouldn't normally get to race,” senior Adam Janes said. “The trip is usually meant to be a lot of fun, and lets us break out of our usual routine to race in a new location.”

The team handled the pressure well, placing first out of the collegiate boats in its final race and in the process besting its 2014 time by four seconds. Battling it out in a nail-biter that went down to the end of the race, the Crimson edged out the second place collegiate-finishing boat, Oklahoma City, by less than a second. Harvard’s boat, led by captain James Croxford, Janes, and senior Achim Harzheim, finished the race in 1:18.98. Oklahoma City’s boat finished with a time of 1:19.96.

The Crimson’s day began in the late afternoon with a night sprints qualifier. The boat featured a lineup that included a sophomore and two juniors in the traditionally-senior boat.

“The senior class boat which raced today had a lot of quality athletes on board,” Janes said. “It was a fantastic experience to relive some great memories of our freshman year together.”

Though this group was relatively untested and faced a strong headwind for a long portion of the race, the boat had a strong showing in the qualifying race. Harvard pushed off first in the event, with the second starting the event over 30 seconds later. To deal with the feeling of rowing in a vacuum by itself, the team just focused on its own performance.

In addition to stiff competition from the other collegiate boats, the team raced against a U.S. Rowing team. This did not faze Harvard though, and the team stayed in close competition.

“We started ahead of Oklahoma City Rowing Club, who proved to be the toughest opposition that we had to face,” Janes said. “We were able to keep them in our sights all the way down the course.”

The boat which also held sophomore Cole Durbin, senior James Green, senior Stefano Belfiore, junior Ross Jarvis, and junior Henry Kennelly in addition to Croxford, Janes, and Harzheim, came out strong, getting into a rhythm that helped it gain and never never lose the lead. It cruised past the finish line with a time of 13:15.13.

Oklahoma City University’s A boat came in second place almost nine seconds later at 13:23.86. Oregon State’s A boat, OKC’s B boat, and and Washington’s A boat rounded out the top five for the Men’s Collegiate 8+ race with times of 13.32.18, 14:15.25, and 15:15.59, respectively. With its win Harvard advanced to the 500 meter Grand Final race later that night, along with the other Top 3 finishers from its preliminary race.

“It's definitely exciting to have some success early in the year,” sixth position rower Croxford said. “However we are mindful that we have some more very competitive races coming up towards the end of the Fall and throughout the Spring so we are doing our best to continuously improve and put ourselves in the best position possible to be successful at those events as well.”

—Staff writer Katherine H. Scott can be reached at katherinescott@college.harvard.edu.