The Harvard Lights completed their reboot on Sunday: from missing the IRAs light eight race altogether in 2022, through a silver-medal campaign in 2023, the Crimson capped off their unbeaten season--one they teased with their Head of the Charles win in October--in dominating fashion at the IRA.
The championship is Harvard's league-leading ninth, breaking a three-way tie with last year's winner Princeton and Cornell. It is the Crimson's first since 2013, and the first title for head coach Billy Boyce, who took over the program in 2017.
The field certainly took their swings, but they had to get them in early: Harvard's powerful base put them ahead for good as they shifted down and lengthened out. That shift was worth a half length just after the 500 meter mark, and it was all Harvard from there.
NATIONAL CHAMPS. @Harvard_Lights claimed its first IRA title since 2013. It’s Varsity Eight posted a time of 5:36.821. ???????
— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) June 2, 2024
pic.twitter.com/QXJhiNYYhV
"We ran through the scenarios, and this was what we were expecting," said Boyce afterwards. "We knew we were going to have to weather some boats trying to rattle us at the start.
"The key for us was to execute our boat speed and not let that change the way we rowed, but hit our base. We know, when we hit it just right, there's not a lot anyone else can do about it.
"We started to see that base in practice, and it's really special," said Boyce.
"They would come off their high strokes, down to 38 and then down to 36, and the boat wouldn't lose speed. Sometimes it almost felt like it would gain speed as they came down. It was about being really confident and allowing that to happen. We phrased it as don't go out there and beat yourselves by over doing it and not letting the boat run the way we know it can and trusting the rhythm.
"You can be really confident," Boyce said, about having a crew this year with that kind of base speed.
"I've had sprinting crews and, as a coach, you don't want a sprinting crew. They give you a heart attack. It's fun when they get through, but for 1750 meters, it's nerve wracking.
"This crew was really inspiring to watch because they could take control early and, as soon as they did, I knew their fitness and the rhythm would prevail. And so you know, they were exciting to watch rather than nerve wracking to watch."
Filling the role of "sprinting crew" on Sunday was Princeton, who won their second IRA medal in a row by persisting through the middle--while Penn made their bid to chase Harvard--then going early in the last 500 to edge Penn and hold on for the silver. It was the Tigers' first time catching Penn all year, and came when it counts the most: in the final strokes of the year.
Penn, the Sprints silver medallists whose only regular season loss was an early April barnburner in Ithaca to eventual champ Harvard and Cornell, went home with the bronze again--their second year in a row earning a spot on the IRA podium.
Penn's silver lining? The Quakers were the only team to medal in all three lightweight events, with silver in the 2V and bronze in the Light Four, more than enough for take 2nd for the Lightweight points behind Harvard.
See the full points tally for the Light Men here.
Back in...Crimson
As noted above, Harvard's win was a long time coming, the end of a rebuild that reset the culture of the team and ended not only a stretch of frustration dating back to COVID, but also 11 years without a title for Harvard Lights.
Michael Fairley, the senior captain, helped lead the turnaround. Back in October, when Harvard Lights took the Charles win, he told row2k that the team "know[s] we can't let off the gas" and they certainly didn't this year, putting their mark on every race early.
Fairley was in the light four that Harvard sent to the IRA in 2022 after crashing out of the eights picture at Sprints that year, and then in the eight that bounced back to take the silver behind Princeton a year ago.
Today, he was in the Harvard 2V that rallied to win a second gold medal for Harvard and seal up the win in the points trophy--a full sweep statement on the magnitude of the shift in in the team's dynamic and fortunes.
"I was in that four two years ago, and we even fell short there. So all of this, this two year rebuild, means so much," said Fairley.
"Last year, we had a lot of success. That was the big turnaround, where we came and got second place in the vVarsity and JV for both IRAs and Sprints. For this year, the main thing that we wanted to focus on was to optimize.
"We did a lot really well last year, but we fell just a little short. So it was about not changing things and having faith in the process. We knew we had a good plan. We had good training. We had a good stroke that had what we were looking for. Then it was just doubling down on all of that.
"It really just came from every single guy on the team fully buying in," he said. "They saw how close we got last year and everyone came back even hungrier for a second year. That was the difference: every single guy fully buying into everything that coaches wanted and everything the captains, the leadership, could ask of them and they killed it.
"In the JV, we knew we had a clean start and we were in a good spot, but from the heats, we knew that we couldn't write off Penn because they were right next to us and they beat us at Sprints.
"Our biggest focus was just moving through the middle of the 2k, because we have a strong base, Then, where in the past we've been in a leading position but we didn't quite close the door, today that is what we had to do.
"There was a pivotal moment where Penn was up by a few seats, maybe around the 1k, and we all just knew that we were going to buy in to that middle of the race and leave no questions unanswered. That third 500 was the pivotal point where we decided to do it.
"Then coming into the last 500, I took a couple of peeks, because I couldn't believe it when our coxswain told us we were up. I had to do a double take, but as we were coming through the last 500, I knew that we had it. It was an excellent piece, and we did what we wanted to do.
"What it takes to have these kinds of results, to have such a dominant performance in the varsity, is to have 12 to 16 varsity level guys," said Fairley.
"Along with the coaches, we did a great job of fostering this competitive culture on the team to where that those guys were always in the mix, were always shooting to get better and to be part of what we knew would be a really fast varsity eight. That trickled down and throughout everything, everyone was so supportive of each other. It just worked out really well."
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