Harvard Men’s Heavies Splits Wins with Penn, Retains Adams Cup in Choppy Weather

The Harvard men’s heavyweight crew team continued its season on the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania on Saturday morning, facing Penn and Navy for the Adams Cup. The Crimson fielded five boats, with the top three boats winning their respective races to retain the Adams Cup.

The day of racing began with the 4V race, where Harvard’s boat, coxed by junior Ericka Lai, finished second, just over two seconds behind Penn’s boat.

Heavy winds affected race scheduling, with the varsity race sliding up to the second race of the day at 9:15 a.m. Crosswinds of over 10 miles per hour certainly affected racing conditions and slightly slowed down times for a few of the boats.

The V8, coxed by sophomore Natalia Toms, earned victory in a tight race, finishing just three seconds ahead of the Quakers’ boat and clocking a time of 5:32.3. This race marked a return to the win column for a boat that lost by fewer than two seconds last weekend to a strong Princeton boat. Harvard’s top boat has shown flashes of success this season, but has only yielded two wins from its five races so far this spring.

“The loss last week was a bit of motivation for the boys,” freshman Jack Hansen-Knarhoi said. “We’ve been experimenting with line-ups over the past couple of weeks, which is a good way to keep the competition high as we look to peak for the sprints, IRAs, and Harvard-Yale in a few weeks.”

Hansen-Knarhoi is a bit of an anomaly in the V8, serving as the only underclassman in a boat of entirely senior oarsmen.

“I’m really enjoying being a freshman in the 1v. It feels like I have improved as a rower so much,” the rookie said. “Just being part of a highly skilled and competitive environment and having to adapt and work to improve is such a rewarding process and has a lot to do with why I row in the first place.”

Harvard’s top boat entered this weekend ranked fourth in the nation among varsity boats in the IRCA Coaches Poll. The only major change in this week’s rankings was the switch of Harvard and Princeton, which were third and fourth in the rankings, respectively, last week, but switched after the Crimson’s loss to the Tigers last weekend.

Penn’s boat entered this race ranked eighth in the nation, but after such a close race with a highly ranked Harvard boat, could climb one or two spots in the rankings in the upcoming week.

After the varsity race, the Crimson’s 2V and 3V, both ranked number one in the country, won their races. The 2V looked particularly strong, nearly outracing the varsity boat’s time on its way to a nearly 10-second victory over the Quakers with a time of 5:35.6.

The 2V, coxed by senior Iris Hennin, has not lost since the team’s season opener in Florida, while the 3V, coxed by freshman Cate Frerichs, remains Harvard’s only undefeated boat this season.

Finally, the day finished with the 5V, which marked the first time this season the Crimson had raced five boats. Harvard’s 5V, coxed by sophomore Nicholas Yoo, finished its race in 6:04.3, exactly five seconds behind Penn’s boat.

Navy’s boats finished all five races in last place, behind both the Crimson and the Quakers. This result did not come as a surprise for collegiate rowing fans, as the Midshipmen’s boats were all ranked 15th or worse in the nation in the latest coaches’ poll.

Once again, Harvard’s middle two boats have found victories while the V8 and 4V have struggled. The Crimson’s head coach, Charley Butt, will likely be looking to make some adjustments as the team prepares for the crucial Eastern Sprints in mid-May.

Harvard has one more race before the May 17 Eastern Sprints, when it hosts Northeastern on the Charles River on Tuesday, April 28. This is also a busy season for all the Crimson’s student-athletes, with Reading Period, the week of studying before final exams, starting on Thursday.

“I think the key to maintaining the balance is just making the most of what I’m doing at that moment. Whether it’s rowing, studying, socializing, or sleeping, I try to just give my full energy to what I’m doing at the time,” Hansen-Knarhoi said. “This has helped me make the most of the more stressful period of the season in past years and has allowed me to understand my body a lot more.”

Harvard strives to keep the wins coming as it continues its season on the Charles River against the Northeastern Huskies.

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