Harvard Heavyweight Crew Looks to Sprint to Eastern Titles Sunday
The Crimson varsity eight lost one race, by just one second, during the dual season (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).
Harvard EARC Sprints Notes (PDF) | Heats Schedule (PDF) | Finals Schedule (PDF) | Lightweight Preview
Harvard’s heavyweight crew will compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Championships Sunday, May 17 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. Racing begins at 8:20 a.m., as the Crimson, ranked fourth nationally and seeded second in the EARC, seeks its fifth Sprints varsity eight title in eight years.
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Racing Schedule
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Harvard Boatings
Varsity Eight
Cox: Kelly Evans, 8: Patrick Lapage, 7: Matt Edstein, 6: Nick
Jordan, 5: David Wakulich, 4: Sam O’Connor, 3: Michael
DiSanto, 2: Anthony Locke, 1: Blake Pucsek
Second Varsity Eight
Cox: Joseph Lin, 8: Benjamin French, 7: Noah Bruegmann, 6:
Mark Fuller, 5: Connor Griffith, 4: Phil Matthews, 3: Christopher
Fuller, 2: Ivan Posavec, 1: Elihu Reynolds
Third Varsity Eight
Cox: Alex Sopko, 8: Jack Morrissey, 7: Robert Stone, 6: Kyle
Gordon, 5: Duncan Gilchrist, 4: Lukens Orthwein, 3: Spencer
Livingston, 2: Richard Anderson, 1: Alex Soutter
Fourth Varsity Eight
Cox: Tian Feng, 8: Alex Housser, 7: David Paresky, 6: Edward
Winters Ronaldson, 5: Karl Hirt, 4: Andrew Stein, 3: Andew Safir,
2: Mihailo Malowany, 1: Andrew Hamm
Freshman Eight
Cox: David Fuller, 8: Peter Scholle, 7: James O’Connor,
6: Parker Washburn, 5: Justin Mundt, 4: Jason Phillips, 3: Eli
Shikaloff, 2: Alex MacIntosh, 1: Josh Hicks
Freshman Four
Cox: Colby Wilkason, 4: Matthew Vincent, 3: Nolan Pollock, 2:
William Polachek, 1: Tom Hanson
Team Strength
In the six events that contribute to the Sprints team
competitions (heavy and light varsity, second varsity and freshman
eights), Harvard’s boats own a combined 43-4 dual-racing
record, as the heavy and lightweight freshman eights join the light
varsity with unblemished records. All six are seeded in the
EARC’s top three, with the three unbeaten boats each seeded
first.
Sprinting to Success
Harvard has more Sprints titles than any other school.
Adding up the six major divisions at Eastern Sprints, Harvard crews
have combined to win 134 titles, including 49 at the varsity level
(25 heavyweight, 24 lightweight).
Last Season at Sprints
Led by a runner-up finish for the varsity eight, all five
Crimson boats medaled to lift the Harvard lightweights to the Jope
Cup as EARC team champion. The third varsity eight won its grand
final, and the freshman eight placed second.
The heavyweights placed second in the varsity and team competitions and reached all five heavyweight grand finals with heat wins. The Crimson also recorded runner-up finishes in the freshman eight and the third varsity eight and placed third in the second freshman eight.
Seeing Double
On 12 occasions, most recently in 2005, both the Harvard
heavyweight and lightweight varsity eights won Sprints gold medals,
a feat that has only been accomplished four times by non???Harvard
crews. The Crimson won both divisions in 1947, ’59,
’66, ’68, ’69, ’74, ’75, ’77,
’80, ’88, ’89 and 2005.
Gold Standard
Only 11 times in the 64-year history of Sprints and on just six occasions since 1957 has Harvard failed to win at least one major grand final in either the heavyweight or the lightweight division. In one of those seasons (1981), the Crimson did not compete due to final exams. In two others (heavyweight in 1992, lightweight last season), Harvard has won a team cup despite not coming away with a gold medal.
Ivy Implications
The top-finishing Ivy League varsity eights in the heavy and light
divisions will win the Ancient Eight title. The Harvard
heavyweights have earned 25 Ivy crowns since 1957, while the
lightweights have won 23.
Quest for the Cup
Harvard’s 2009 Jope Cup victory as Sprints lightweight team
champion was its 20th and third since 2004. The Crimson has won the
Jope Cup more times than any other team.
The Crimson also owns a league-high 29 Rowe Cup titles as heavyweight team champion. Five of those cup wins have come in the last eight years. Since 2002, the Harvard heavyweights and lightweights have won a combined eight team trophies.
National Aspirations
A top-nine heavyweight varsity finish or top???seven lightweight
showing is needed to land an EARC crew in the 108th IRA National
Championships June 3-5 on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. Harvard
has won three IRA heavyweight titles in the last seven years and
seven IRA lightweight crowns.
Dual Season Recap
The Crimson heavyweight varsity eight enters its championship
season and final dual race one second shy of a chance at a second
straight perfect dual season. Harvard opened the season with its
first dual regatta against Cornell since 1961, winning all five
races, including a 4.4-second win in the varsity eight.
The annual early-season clash with fellow Eastern power Brown followed. The Bears won the varsity eight race by one second and won the second and third varsities, while Harvard claimed victory in both freshman events. The Crimson rebounded by taking all four races from Princeton, sweeping the Tigers and MIT for the Compton Cup. The Princeton varsity, trying to come from behind, did not finish the race, as its rudder cable broke and its bow crashed into Harvard’s stern and broke off.
Harvard then took five of six races from Navy and Penn and all three from Northeastern. In the highly anticipated varsity matchup with the Huskies, both teams entered having suffered only narrow losses to Brown. The Crimson, however, went up by three seats almost immediately and went on to win by more than six seconds.
Records and Rankings
With its 6-1 record, the No. 4 Harvard heavyweight varsity eight
is seeded behind only defending-champion Brown in the EARC. The
top-seeded Crimson freshman eight is 6-0, one win away from an
unblemished dual record for the fourth straight season. The second
and third varsity eights are both 5-1 and ranked second and fifth,
respectively. The fourth varsity is 1-3, with all races coming
against opponents’ third varsities. Harvard defeated Penn in
its only freshman four race.
Streaking
The Harvard heavyweight varsity eight has defeated its last five
and 19 of its last 20 dual opponents. The Crimson has defeated its
last 15 dual opponents when racing at home on the Charles River and
has beaten 37 of its last 38 home dual opponents. Harvard’s
last home loss was April 15, 2006 against Princeton. The Harvard
freshman eight has defeated 26 straight dual opponents since
falling to Yale to close the 2006 season.
Coaching Staff
Harry Parker, the Thomas Bolles Head Coach for Harvard Men’s
Crew, is in his 48th season leading the Crimson heavyweights. He
has guided the Crimson to 21 varsity Sprints titles, most recently
in 2007, and 17 second varsity crowns. Parker’s dual coaching
record is 297-44-1, and last season’s perfect dual record was
his 20th. The third and fourth varsities are led by assistant coach
Wayne Berger.
Harvard’s freshman coach, in his 12th season, is Bill Manning. He has directed the Crimson rookies to the 1999, 2001, ’02, ’04 and ’08 Sprints titles. A Harvard freshman win against Yale would give Manning his fourth straight perfect dual season.
Heavyweight Captain
The Crimson heavyweights are captained by senior Blake Pucsek
(Victoria, B.C.), who has rowed in the varsity eight since
returning from a year away from Harvard in 2007-08. Pucsek trained
with Rowing Canada during the Olympic year, helping his home nation
take the silver medal at the World Under 23 Championships and win
the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.
The Varsity Eight
Harvard’s success this season has come despite just
one-third of the athletes in its top boat having raced in the
varsity eight last season. The three varsity veterans are bowman
Blake Pucsek, junior Anthony Locke (Isle of Wight, England) and
junior David Wakulich (St. Catharines, Ont.). Senior coxswain Kelly
Evans (East Greenwich, R.I.) was a part of the second varsity eight
last season, while sophomores Michael DiSanto (Boston, Mass.), Matt
Edstein (Sydney, Australia), Nick Jordan (Princeton, N.J.), Patrick
Lapage (Shrewsbury, England) and Sam O’Connor (Christchurch,
New Zealand) came from Harvard’s 2009 freshman eight.
A Winning Boat
The Harvard varsity eight races in the same shell that Malcolm
Howard ’05 and the Canada men’s eight rowed to a gold
medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The boat was dedicated in
Howard’s honor following the Crimson’s April 17 sweep
of Princeton and MIT.
Harvard’s Major Heavyweight Sprints
Championships
Varsity eight: 1947, ’48, ’49, ’59,
’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69,
’70, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’80,
’83, ’85, ’88, ’89, ’90, 2003,
’04, ’05, ’07.
Second varsity eight: 1947, ’49, ’64,
’65, ’66, ’69, ’72, ’73, ’74,
’75, ’78, ’85, ’86, ’90, ’93,
2002, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06.
Freshman eight: 1949, ’50, ’55, ’58,
’63, ’65, ’67, ’72, ’76, ’80,
’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’90, ’99,
2001, ’02, ’04, ’08.
Rowe Cup: 1947, ’48, ’49, ’51,
’59, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’69,
’70, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76,
’78, ’80, ’83, ’85, ’86, ’88,
’90, ’92, 2002, ’03, ’04, ’06,
’07.
More History
Harvard has swept the three major heavyweight divisions at Eastern
Sprints five times (1945, ’65, ’85, ’90, 2004).
Only three other times has one school swept all three races: 1952
(Navy), ’79 (Yale) and ’94 (Brown). Harvard has won two
of the three races on 14 occasions. The Crimson has advanced to the
varsity grand final in 60 of its 64 years racing at Sprints.
Still Ahead
Before competing for a national title, the Crimson heavyweights
will face the rival Bulldogs in the 145th Harvard-Yale Regatta,
America’s oldest intercollegiate sporting event, May 29 in
New London, Conn.
