Harvard Men’s Heavyweight Crew Splits Races with Princeton, Loses Compton Cup

The Harvard men’s heavyweight crew team continued its season at home on Saturday morning, facing Princeton for the Compton Cup. The Tigers ultimately won the cup as the two teams split the four races, but Princeton was able to win the crucial V8 event.

The Tigers started off the day on the right foot, beating the Crimson’s 4V coxed by junior Ericka Lai and posting a time of 5:47.919. This race marked a continuation of the boat’s struggles, as it has won just one of its four races to start this season. Harvard has made some changes to the 4V as it attempts to establish a smoother rhythm, including changing coxes. The boat’s sole win, which came against Cornell on April 4, was coxed by sophomore Nicholas Yoo.

Despite the 4V’s struggles, the Crimson was able to rebound quickly in the 3V race, with the boat, coxed by freshman Cate Frerichs, keeping its undefeated season alive as it beat Princeton by nearly four seconds.

The 2V, coxed by senior Iris Hennin, kept the good times rolling for Harvard, as it was able to edge out the Tigers by just under four seconds, posting a time of 5:32.876.

The V8, coxed by sophomore Natalia Toms, finished the day with the pressure of the cup on its shoulders, but was unable to find the win on the Charles as it fell by fewer than two seconds to a strong Tigers boat.

This race had big implications for the IRCA rankings of collegiate heavyweight teams. The Crimson entered the Compton Cup ranked third in the country, just 13 points above the fourth-seeded Princeton program. This week’s loss will likely trigger the first change in the top four to occur in a few weeks.

This cup represented a larger trend for the Harvard heavies, with the middle boats being incredibly strong across the board, but the V8 and 4V comparatively struggling. The 2V and 3V have combined for just one loss this season, while the V8 and 4V have found just two wins combined.

The Crimson’s head coach, Charley Butt, will likely be looking to make more adjustments on his boats as the team enters the later part of the season in order to strengthen the V8 down the stretch.

With the 2V racing so close in time to the V8, there could be some movements along the talent pools of those two boats in particular as Coach Butt looks to improve his top boat.

Harvard strives to earn a recovery win as it continues its season later this week in Philadelphia, Pa., taking on Penn and Navy for the Adams Cup on April 25.

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