The Harvard men’s lightweight rowing team won its third consecutive title at the IRA National Championship Regatta, held on Lake Natoma from Friday through Sunday, May 31. The varsity boat, which entered as two-time defending champions, secured a wire-to-wire victory in Sunday’s Grand Final and finished with a time of 5:47.229 for a three-quarter length win over Princeton.
The Crimson nearly achieved an open-water advantage by the 1500-meter mark before crossing the finish line. The varsity eight was stroked by captain Ben Lundie and included six returning oarsmen from last year’s championship squad. This victory marks the program’s 12th national championship.
In addition to the varsity success, Harvard’s junior varsity boat also claimed gold in its race. Stroked by Nikhil Ramaraju, the junior varsity led throughout and finished in 5:53.763, holding off Penn to secure its third straight IRA National Championship Regatta win. Bow Henry Jones is noted as the only oarsman to have rowed in all three of these recent JV victories.
The final results for both races saw Harvard leading strong fields that included Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, and MIT for the varsity eight; and Penn, Princeton, Georgetown, Navy, and Dartmouth for the second varsity race.
Harvard’s V8 lineup consisted of coxswain Nathalie Gregg; stroke Ben Lundie; Alex Forbes; Charles Rahdon; Preston Darling; Jackson Violich; Zarret Mills; Andrew Buda; and bow Kyle Sutherland. The second varsity lineup featured coxswain Haley Hicks; stroke Nikhil Ramaraju; Jack Duggan; Brody Luce; Herbie Austin-Baker; Ian O’Riley; Maxton Kilroy; Lucas Pinsent; and bow Henry Jones.
