SEASON RECAP: Coach Has Rowers Peak At Nationals

Charley Butt has a knack for getting his rowers to peak at the right time.

2006 was no exception, as the Harvard men’s lightweight crew coach watched his top two boats medal at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships (IRAs) on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

Despite coming in as a significant underdog, the varsity eight was just edged by Eastern Sprints champion Cornell in the Grand Final, falling 0.076 seconds short of taking home the gold medal.

Meanwhile, the varsity straight four outraced a field packed with heavyweight boats to capture the national title.

“It’s fantastic,” said senior varsity eight four-seat Wes Kauble of the weekend’s results. “It’s a testament to our depth and our determination.”

The strong finish at IRAs was a welcome finale for the Crimson.

Though Harvard had dominated its competition at the start of the dual season, the Crimson’s level of performance declined at the end of April, culminating in a third-place finish at the Goldthwait Cup in New Haven, Conn.

Harvard followed that up by placing fourth in both varsity races at Eastern Sprints, as the Big Red dominated the field to come away with two titles.

So the Crimson arrived in Camden as a significant underdog, with few expecting it to have a shot at the championship. But Harvard raced aggressively to finish ahead of both Princeton and Yale—the two teams that had defeated the Crimson at the Goldthwait Cup just a month earlier.

“To dust Yale like that, a team that had given us some trouble in the past, was very satisfying,” said junior varsity eight coxswain Mark Adomanis, who is also a Crimson editor.

The success at IRAs was even more surprising given the personnel changes that Harvard had to deal with the entire year. Both varsity boats saw significant changes to their lineups, as rowers swapped seats and even boats as Butt tried to find the combination that would give the Crimson the best chance to succeed.

But despite the tension, the rowers trusted their coach, knowing his reputation for bringing things together when the stakes are highest.

“Charley [Butt] was proven by the results at the end,” captain Dan Reid said. “It was tough to do all season, being moved around, but it kept us on our toes, and Charley kept the boat together for the last three to four weeks of the season.”

Confident in their coach and in their abilities, the Harvard rowers knew that they had the potential to challenge for the national championship. All they needed was the right approach.

So before the races began, the varsity eight got together to discuss a new strategy.

“We met up as a boat before the final and decided that the race plan that we had been using wasn’t good enough,” Kauble said. “We decided that we wanted to try and go out there and win the championship, and we decided that we were going to try and be aggressive from the outset.”

The Crimson’s approach paid off. Though Harvard was in fifth place after the first 300 meters, its attack allowed it to chase down its competitors and to come within inches of upsetting Cornell.

And though the Crimson had its sights set on taking home the national title, for once silver seemed to be enough.

“I’ve said all year, and all my life, that second place isn’t an accomplishment, but yesterday finally changed my perspective on things,” Kauble said. “After all the turmoil we’ve been through, we were able to find nine guys who were dedicated to making this boat move, and it was fantastic to walk away knowing there was nothing more we could have done.”

In the varsity straight four, Reid and the rest of the crew took a different approach to the race. Without a coxswain to guide its efforts, the boat placed an emphasis on being relaxed and focused rather than trying to outmuscle the heavyweights.

The strategy worked, as the lighter Harvard boat flew through the water and defeated Wisconsin by a length and a half to capture the national title.

“Because the straight four is so light and so fast, you can take care of boats that are much bigger than you,” Reid said. “We were just calm and collected, and we just kept pushing. It was a steady walkthrough.”

Just like that, the Crimson erased a season of doubts, of unease, and of unexpected defeats.

And once again, Charley Butt and his rowers could see their smiles reflected in their glowing medals.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.