The Harvard men’s heavyweight rowing team advanced all four of its boats out of the first day at the IRA National Championship Regatta on Lake Natoma, Gold River, Calif., according to a May 29 announcement. The Harvard University Boat Club eights swept their races with first-place finishes to move into the semifinals, while the varsity four secured a spot in the finals with a second-place finish.
The varsity boat, stroked by captain Ben Scott, competed in Heat 3 and faced Northeastern for the third consecutive regatta. Racing side-by-side in the first two lanes, Harvard got off to a fast start and built a lead by the 500-meter mark that it maintained through to finish first with a time of 5:42.410. Northeastern finished second at 5:45.270.
Harvard’s second varsity paced its heat with a half-boat length victory over Northeastern in 5:47.460 and qualified for Saturday’s AB Semifinals at 12:12 p.m. Eastern Time. The third varsity also advanced after finishing ahead of Brown by more than two and a half seconds with a time of 5:50.790.
Day one concluded with Harvard’s varsity four advancing to Saturday’s A Final at 2:30 p.m., finishing just behind Penn in their semifinal race at 6:26.950 after an earlier time trial.
Lineups for each boat were listed as follows: Varsity eight included coxswain Natalia Toms and stroke Ben Scott; second varsity featured coxswain Iris Hennin and stroke Tyler Horler; third varsity was led by coxswain Cate Frerichs and stroke Marco Vicino; while Nicholas Yoo served as coxswain for the V4+, stroked by Adam Cech.
Saturday race times are scheduled beginning at 11:56 a.m., though all times are subject to change.
