Men's and Women's Crew Teams Capture Stein and Knecht Cups

­The atmosphere felt like spring for the Harvard men’s and women’s heavyweight and lightweight crew teams as they raced on Saturday. Both men’s teams won their matches, while the women’s heavyweight team lost and the lightweight team came out on top.

The victory by the men’s heavyweight squad clinched another Stein Cup for the Crimson, while the Biglin Bowl and Knecht Cup were also won by Harvard.

MEN’S CREW

It was another home win for the No. 4 men’s heavyweight team, which defeated No. 6 Brown and won its fifth-straight Stein Cup on Saturday. Overcoming a large head wind in the basin on the Charles, the Crimson bested the Bears in all five races.

The V8 team earned its 38th-straight victory—and 52 of the last 53 dual races—in its four-second win, finishing at 6:34.8. The JV team won by a wide margin, finishing its race in 6:26.41, while Brown came in over a minute later, crossing the finish line with a time of 7:34.4.

The freshman eight team, like the JV, finished with a sub-6:30 time, coming in at 6:29.2, nearly 10 seconds ahead of Brown’s freshmen eight team. The third and fourth varsity teams, along with the second freshman team, also posted victories in their races.

“It’s a pretty good day in the shed when every boat wins by open water, but we can always do better,” junior heavyweight Pat Dowling said. “I think Pat Lapage ‘12, who focuses on the lower boats, has done a really good job of creating more competition within the squad, bringing up the level of aggression in these boats. He’s the type of coach that guys really want to win for.”

The Biglin Bowl returned to the Charles, as the lightweight team hosted MIT and Dartmouth in its home opener. The Harvard team broke its split streak and earned a double win against the Big Green and the Engineers.

The varsity eight edged its cross-town rivals, spending much of the race neck-and-neck with MIT but finally nabbed the top spot with a time of 6:47.4. Dartmouth followed the two in open water.

The second, third, fourth varsity teams, and both novice teams had open water victories over their respective Big Green and Engineer opponents.

WOMEN’S CREW

The No. 13 Radcliffe heavyweight crew dropped a close race against No. 4 Virginia, No. 8 Princeton, and Cornell on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, N.J. The team won against Cornell but was bested by UVA and Princeton.

The varsity eight lost the Class of 1975 Cup by just three seconds, coming in with a time of 6:57.6. This earned the team third place, behind the Cavaliers, which won the event and cup with a 6:54.5 split, and the Tigers, which crossed the finish line two seconds after the UVA boat.

The JV, third varsity, and varsity four A and B teams also placed third in their respective events. The second varsity team crossed the finish line eight seconds behind Princeton and 14 behind UVA. The varsity four C team, though losing to UVA by open water, came in second place.

The No. 2 lightweight team competed in the Knecht Cup for the first time in six years on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., and came away with the victory.

“We were really excited to use this weekend as an opportunity to get some more racing experience,” senior lightweight Taylor Garden said. “With some many different teams at this event, we were looking forward to the competitive racing.”

In the first round, the A team came in first place with a time of 6:38.54, finishing ahead of Princeton by two seconds. The B team finished fourth in its race at 6:49.21, five seconds behind first place finisher Boston University.

The two teams then went on to win their respective final races. The A team finished the Grand Final race in 6:49.14, just ahead of Princeton. The B team won the Petite Final with a time of 6:59.46.

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