Different Paths, Same Goal

As a school renowned for its diversity, Harvard is home to students from all backgrounds, concentrations, hometowns, nationalities, and talents. Athletic teams are not exempt. In fact, for the seniors of men’s heavyweight crew, diversity is one of the program’s best qualities.

The class, composed of seven rowers, hails from everywhere from England to Oregon to Canada; studies everything from economics to anthropology to government; and has interests ranging from windsurfing to HoCo to hiking. But the important thing is what brings them all together in their final year at Harvard: rowing.

“We all do different things off the water,” senior Ben French says, “but when we get down to the boathouse, we are definitely one team.”

Success came quickly for this class. As a freshman eight, they took first place in the Eastern Sprints Regatta, earning an invitation to compete at the Henley Royal Regatta in England. Since that season, the current seniors have lost rowers and have separated into different boats, but with just a few months between the last Head of the Charles Regatta and graduation, they are coming together again as team leaders and as a class that has seen Harvard rowing through highs and lows in the last three years.

“The group we have left is a great group of guys and all very inspiring in their own way,” captain Ant Locke says. “We’ve learned a tremendous amount about rowing but also about how to rely on one another. That’s what happens when you row together.”

Any Crimson rower can attest to the grueling practice schedule that crew requires, an everyday commitment that involves early mornings, rows on the water in all weather conditions, stadium runs, and time trials on the erg. But the members of this senior class would also tell you that practice, grueling or not, inevitably brings them together.

“We put the work in together and really trust the training,” Locke says. “In general, the team bonds over getting through practice.”

“We feel very close and united by the fact that we’ve been together for four years and have stuck it out,” French adds.

For the younger members of the program, the senior rowers have not only stuck it out but have become leaders on the team.

“The class definitely brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” junior Mike DiSanto says. “They have really stepped up and set an example for us to follow. It’s an impressive thing to see.”

DiSanto was one of two underclassmen to accompany the seniors to the Head of the Oklahoma Regatta two weekends ago. It is tradition for senior rowers to race together in their final fall season at the Head of the Oklahoma. And for the current senior class, the race marked the first time the men had competed together in the same boat since their rookie year.

“It was really special to get back in the boat at the same time…and race with them again,” French says.

But rowing is about more than racing.

Being a part of the rowing program at Harvard has not only brought these seniors together through racing but has opened the door to opportunity and growth.

“Being on the team requires you to be organized enough to balance schoolwork and practice,” Locke says. “You learn a lot about teamwork and a lot of useful stuff for later life, and you make fantastic friends.”

“Rowing has been a staple for me every single day,” French echoes. “I’ve gotten to travel to places I’ve never been, I’ve made some really good friendships, and I’ve become a part of something that has such a long history at Harvard.”

With the race in Oklahoma past and its final Head of the Charles fast approaching, the senior class has the task of defining how it will leave its mark, continuing the program’s more than 150-year-old legacy of a strong work ethic, team spirit, commitment, and fast results.

“We want to set a standard of working hard and keep what’s going, going,” French says, “even if it means going to train with younger guys outside of our own practice time.”

For the underclassmen, the seniors’ efforts have already made a lasting impression.

“They have a very clear goal that they set for us,” DiSanto says. “It’s not just about being good within our team or being good within our league but about being the best we can be and living up to our potential.”

With the different interests and backgrounds that define their class, the seven seniors will likely go in all different directions following graduation, but rowing, the special sport that brought them together during their time at Harvard, will undeniably be the tie that binds beyond college too.

—Staff writer B. Marjorie Gullick can be reached at gullick@college.harvard.edu.