All three eight-man boats for the Harvard men’s heavyweight rowing team advanced to the finals on May 30 at the IRA National Championship Regatta in Gold River, California. The varsity eight secured the team’s first medal of the weekend with a bronze-medal finish in their final race.
Stroke Ben Scott and the varsity eight earned a place in Sunday’s A Final at 3:04 pm ET by finishing second behind California, posting a time of 5:41.770 and ending just one seat behind Cal. The second varsity boat’s race was initially interrupted due to interference, leading officials to restart after the third varsity semifinals. After resuming, Harvard finished second with a time of 5:43.170, pulling away from Syracuse late and nearly catching Princeton; their A Final is scheduled for Sunday at 2:08 pm ET.
In third varsity action, Harvard trailed through much of the race but overtook Washington inside the red buoys for a narrow victory by just 0.27 seconds with a time of 5:45.910. This result places them in Sunday’s A Final at 12:46 pm ET.
The varsity four, stroked by Adam Cech, competed in a closely contested final where California led wire-to-wire and Penn took silver. Harvard moved from fifth after the first segment to claim bronze by overtaking both Princeton and Washington in the latter half of the race, finishing with a time of 6:31.180.
The team also released detailed lineups for each boat competing over the weekend, as well as full semifinal results and upcoming Sunday race times.
