As the sun rose over Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the weather was notably colder than we had experienced previously this weekend. However, with the fastest eights on the continent lighting up the course in search of the last eight national titles of the season, the racing was red hot with records falling across the board with a dead-straight tailwind.
The first of the eights finals was the third varsity eight, which gave us a taste of what was to come. The Harvard Crimson led from the second quarter, weathering challenges from Washington and California all the way down the course. The men from Harvard looked to have it sewn up in the final hundred metres of the course, but a phenomenal closing sprint from the Huskies led to a photo finish. After the finish judges conferred, the result was determined to be a victory for Harvard by three hundredths of a second.
The lightweight men’s second eights followed, and it was more crimson joy as the well-fancied Harvard crew gained a second’s lead in the opening section, which they would not relinquish all race. Behind them, Penn finished in silver, while Columbia won bronze over Princeton after tussling all the way down the course. This marked the first medal in a lightweight eight for the New York-based programme since their national championship in 2022.
The heavyweight equivalent provided a similar narrative as the undefeated Washington “two-vee” made an early statement, steaming away from the competition in the early stage with Harvard and California inseparable through the first two-thirds of the race course. However, as they passed the final marker and embraced the noise of the supporters’ tents, the Crimson set off in search of Washington, closing the margin to the Huskies but coming up short, with the crew from Seattle completing a rare undefeated season in the junior varsity division.
The penultimate championship of the day crowned the lightweight national champions, and Harvard entered as heavy favourites. Their only loss over the last two years came on the Henley stretch to a heavyweight Oxford Brookes crew in The Temple Challenge Cup. Today, there was no headwind, and the Crimson led early. However, they were chased by a crew from the Dartmouth Big Green who tracked them along the course from two lanes away. However, in the end, Harvard held out to claim the gold medal in a new championship record time from 13 years ago. Dartmouth won the silver, matching their best-ever showing, while the MIT Engineers won their first-ever IRA medal in the lightweight eight, holding off late charges from Penn and Princeton.
At the end of the morning’s racing, all eyes focused on the varsity eight with ultimate bragging rights on the line. As expected, Washington and Harvard led the field off the start, with less than two-tenths of a second separating them at the first two timing points. At the halfway point, the Huskies began to press their advantage, separating away from the Crimson, as we waited for the killer move that had earned them the lead in their semifinal yesterday. In reality, this never came, and the Crimson became concerned with the racing behind them. Off their starboard side came their Ivy League rivals Dartmouth and Princeton, the two fastest-moving crews in the closing moments. This charge brought Harvard back into the race as they held off the Big Green by just 15 hundredths of a second.
Ultimately, the Washington Huskies won their 21st national title and 19th Ten Eyck Trophy for team points. For Harvard, the wait for a title extends to 20 years. Dartmouth picked up just its second medal in this event since 1992, while Syracuse competed in its fifth-straight grand final, finishing sixth behind Brown, who returned after missing out last year.
Earlier in the day, the first A-finals featured the lightweight women’s small boats. In the lightweight four, Wisconsin rushed out to an early lead but had surrendered it to Princeton before the first time check. The Tigers moved out to a length’s lead while the Badgers fell back into the pack. Through the end of the race, the MIT Engineers gave the biggest challenge to Princeton, though their late charge came up just short. In the end, it was Harvard-Radcliffe who won bronze in a photo finish against the late-charging Boston University.
Similarly, in the lightweight double, Wisconsin led out the field early on, but favourites Boston University seized control through the middle of the race. The Terriers sat up half a length on the field as Wisconsin weathered a late charge from MIT to win the silver.
In the biggest boat in the category, the women’s lightweight eight, Princeton did not wait as they recovered from a season-first loss in yesterday’s race for lanes to dominate this heat. The Tigers were comfortably the fastest starters and held their bow in front all the way down the course to exact their revenge over Harvard-Radcliffe, who won silver, while Georgetown were comfortably in third.
In the lower races of the blue riband event, California controlled the petite final following their dramatic mishap in yesterday’s semifinal, posting a time of 5:24, which would have been good enough to win the grand final (though the wind had died down somewhat by that point). Cornell earned top honours in the third-level final, securing 13th overall, while Wisconsin‘s rise from 19th last year to 14th this year in the varsity powered the Badgers to lift the Clayton W. Chapman Trophy for the largest improvement in team points.
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