The Harvard men’s lightweight rowing team secured its third consecutive title at the IRA National Championship Regatta, held on Lake Natoma from Friday through Sunday, May 31. The varsity boat, which had won the previous two championships, established an early lead in Sunday’s Grand Final and maintained it throughout the race to finish with a time of 5:47.229. This result gave Harvard a three-quarter length victory over Princeton and marked the program’s 12th national championship.
The winning varsity eight was stroked by captain Ben Lundie and included six returning oarsmen from last year’s championship crew. The Crimson nearly achieved an open-water advantage by the 1500-meter mark before crossing the finish line ahead of their competitors.
In addition to the varsity eight’s success, Harvard’s junior varsity boat also claimed gold in its event. Stroked by Nikhil Ramaraju, the second varsity led wire-to-wire and finished with a time of 5:53.763, narrowly holding off Penn at the line. This victory marked three straight wins for Harvard’s junior varsity at the IRA National Championship Regatta. Bow Henry Jones is noted as being the only oarsman to row in all three second-varsity boats during this run of titles.
Final results for both races were provided: In the varsity eight final, Harvard finished first (5:47.229), followed by Princeton (5:49.214) and Dartmouth (5:50.339). In the second varsity final, Harvard again took first place (5:53.763), with Penn second (5:55.245) and Princeton third (5:58.238).
The lineup for Harvard’s victorious crews included Nathalie Gregg as coxswain for V8 alongside stroke Ben Lundie; Haley Hicks coxed for 2V with Nikhil Ramaraju stroking that boat.
