Harvard Men’s Heavyweights Kick off the Season at Benderson Cup

The Harvard men’s heavyweight crew team started its season off on the right foot on Friday and Saturday as two of the men’s boats won their races at the Benderson Cup. The cup, which also featured Stanford, Brown, Yale, Northeastern, and Washington, took place over two days and featured a pair of races for every boat on the Crimson’s roster, with one race on each day.

Harvard started off the cup on Friday, where the Crimson grabbed a win in the 3v but finished last in the 4v, and middle of the pack in the 2v and V8 races.

Harvard went back into action on Saturday and recovered from Friday’s lukewarm results to grab victories for both the 2V and 3V boats. The 2V, coxed by senior Iris Hennin, won its race by less than half a second, clocking a time of 5:45.01. The 3v, coxed by freshman Cate Frerichs, won by just under four seconds and clocked a time of 5:57.94.

“It was a super exciting way to start the season, especially since last year it was a much tighter win,” said Frerichs. “Seeing how much speed we had on the other Eastern crews across the whole team was really a confirmation of the work everyone has put in over the winter season.”

The fours and the V8 also logged good results on Saturday, with both boats finishing second in their respective races.

The Benderson Cup marked a good start to the season for Harvard men’s heavyweight crew. The program had a good season last year, including gold at Eastern Sprints for the Crimson’s top varsity boat. Harvard also earned two silver medals at the IRA championships and swept the contentious Harvard-Yale regatta to wrap up the season.

The Crimson has a packed schedule ahead of them, with nine total events including this past weekend. Harvard will host three regattas in Cambridge this season, including two in the next two weeks, before going on the road again.

The Crimson is attempting to build on the momentum of last year’s success and really hit the ground running this spring season.

“Everyone’s very excited to be back on the water, and there seems to be a bit more energy and engagement from the whole team,” said Frerichs. “Having such a strong indoor season has made everyone more confident going into the racing season, especially since we are generally more of a technical crew.”

Harvard will continue its season later this week, when it will host Cornell in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday, April 4, at the Robinson Cup.

—Staff writer Asher Meron can be reached at [email protected].