Harvard Men’s Lightweight Crew Earns Three Cups, Keeps Winning Streak Going

The Harvard men’s lightweight crew team kept its dominant winning streak alive on Saturday as it took down Princeton and Yale to earn three trophies: the Goldthwait, Vogel, and Prentke Cups.

Three races took place Saturday morning on the Charles River. First up for the Crimson was the 3V, coxed as usual by freshman Hailey Hicks. Harvard started the race from behind as the Princeton boat took an early lead, and maintained that lead all the way to the finish line. The Tigers won the race by just over five seconds.

The 3V continues to be the Crimson’s weakest boat, having only won one race –last week against Navy and MIT — as a full crew so far this season.

“They’re working hard, they’ve had some ups and downs, but overall they’re making progress,” said head coach Billy Boyce. “The Princeton crew that won today was very aggressive, and I think our 3V will need to match that level of competitive intensity.”

The 2V, coxed by senior Sylvie Spitz, went out on the Charles 20 minutes after the 3V. The start of the race was very tight. Yale fell behind quickly, but Princeton and Harvard remained neck and neck for the first minute of the race. The Crimson eventually broke ahead of both other boats with a burst and maintained its lead for the rest of the race, soaring to a win by just over four seconds. Harvard clocked a time of 5:42.850, ahead of Princeton’s 5:47.090 and Yale’s 5:56.416.

This season, the 2V has had lots of movement in its boat, particularly in the third spot. This week marked the first in which the third seat in the twos had the same rower, senior Zarret Mills, for consecutive weeks. A different rower had sat in that seat in each of the Crimson’s first three races.

“Zarret’s a very experienced senior returner; he’s been in the varsity the past two seasons. He’s coming off of a long-term injury,” Coach Boyce said when asked about the changes. “The seven seat went out. We needed a new seven seat. So it ended up being the three men moved to the seven, and then we needed a new three seat, so Zarret filled in.”

While the Crimson has been shuffling around a lot of seats in the 2V due to injuries, Coach Boyce will certainly be looking to cement his lineup going into the last and most important two races of the season.

The final race of the morning was the V8, which sprang out to an early lead and maintained the gap despite a tight contest, beating Princeton’s boat by just over three seconds. The V8 posted a final time of 5:36.272, much faster than last week’s 5:51.00, which was likely due to calm waters on the Charles.

Both the V8 and the 2V have not lost a race this season, maintaining an undefeated streak that dates back to last season, an impressive run that has catapulted the Crimson’s lightweight program to the definitive best in collegiate rowing.

“It takes really exceptional athletes, and the core of that boat has returned every year,” Coach Boyce said while speaking of the V8 and his team’s success.

While the Crimson retained three all-Americans from last season, its top rower, Brahm Erdmann — a Crimson Sports Staff Writer and the Crimson’s top rower from its back-to-back run — graduated last spring. Erdmann won the inaugural IRCA Oarsmen last season, an award that recognizes the top lightweight rower in the nation.

Despite losing Erdmann, the Crimson have kept the wins coming.

“The younger guys who have come in to fill seats have stepped into a culture of gritty hard work and accountability,” Coach Boyce said. “This group is very ambitious and very competitive, so they’re always looking for the next thing that can be done.”

Erdmann himself was present at today’s race alongside many alumni of the lightweight rowing team.

“To see those guys come not just here but to every race course and cheer them on and see how invested they are in the program shows how important this was to them, how much they love this team, and how much this meant to them,” Coach Boyce said of the large alumni turnout. “It’s really enjoyable to catch up with those guys and have them in the coaches’ launch.”

Coach Boyce and his team now face a long rest of over three weeks as they look ahead to the Eastern Sprints in Worcester, Mass., on May 17.

Boyce gave insight into his team’s training approach over such a long break.

“At least for this final week of classes and the beginning of reading period, it’ll be a fairly standard week; we’ll keep the volume up,” the coach said. “Once they go into exams, we will begin our taper, where the intensity will stay on, but the volume will decrease.”

This break is especially important for the rowers as they attempt to balance their lives as student-athletes, tackling final exam season and the most important races of their rowing season all at the same time.

“A big part of succeeding on the water here at the boat house is also making sure we’re staying on top of our school work,” said senior Kyle Sutherland, a 2025 All-American.

Sutherland serves as the team’s Lightweight Protocol, a position that acts similarly to a vice-captain for fellow senior and fellow All-American Ben Lundie.

“Our day-to-day doesn’t change much. Given that we have a bit more time, it might slow down a little bit and just change up the structure of our weeks a little bit and see if there are any selection opportunities we need to look into,” Sutherland said. “We’re gonna keep pushing on the fitness, getting better on the water, and hopefully coming to the eastern sprints faster than we are today.”

The team will strive to continue its undefeated 2026 campaign on May 17 at the Eastern Sprints.

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