For four years, no one could beat Harvard's men's crew team during the regular season - a span that lasted 24 races. The last time anyone had knocked off the Crimson was in 2002, when the University of Wisconsin accomplished the feat at the Eastern Sprints Championship. All that changed on Saturday when the men's varsity eight bested the three-time defending national champions on the Seekonk River by 0.5 seconds.
Given the relative ease of Harvard's victories in the junior varsity, freshman and varsity four events, the No. 7 Bears lined up against the nation's third-ranked boat on Saturday with bleak expectations. Indeed, it was assumed Harvard would defeat the Bears comfortably before it battled No.1 Princeton for Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Conference supremacy next Saturday.
Brown made a fast start across the first 400 meters before being pegged back by Harvard. By the 1,000-meter mark, Bruno was struggling to hold level with a team that has rarely been challenged by any crew since 2001. Brown upped its stroke rate considerably over the final stretch, stabilizing at a 41.
In the end, the Bears' intensity was too much for Harvard, which began to look uncomfortable and suddenly far from a fourth-consecutive Intercollegiate Rowing Association title. Brown's finishing time of 5:35.7 was good enough to edge out the Crimson, which clocked in at 5:36.2.
In a lineup that contained varsity newcomers Ryan McShane '08, Colin Keogh '08, Paul Strombom '08 and Chris Greene '08, the Bears found a coherency and rhythm behind the stroke of Joe Donahue '07 that has been absent since the glory days of the all-conquering 2000 team.
The experience and power of Steve Van Knotsenburg '06 and Ben Harrison '07, combined with the icy composure of co-captain David Coughlin '07 and the binding spirit of Pat Yu '06 at coxswain, rounded out a lineup that now must be regarded alongside Princeton and Stanford as contenders for a national title.
Co-captain Harrison issued a confident challenge to the team's upcoming opposition.
"It is a group that recognizes that hard work, dedication, honesty and faith are the ways to victory," he said. "Saturday was a great first step in our collective quest to reach our goal."
Coughlin also reiterated the importance of Brown's spirit. "Our coaches told us that the race would be decided based on how we responded when we were pressured," he said.
Keogh, in his first varsity race, was ecstatic with the result. "I thought it would take a lot to beat the feelings I had about last season winning the Eastern Sprints and having a perfect regular season record," he said. "But this was great because the only people who thought we could win were the guys on the team and the coaches and we proved that we have the makings of a very special boat."
The team, however, recognizes there is still a lot of work to be done and that the win does not automatically entitle it to a place on the podium in Worcester, Mass., for the Eastern Sprints in late May.
The win did generate some much-needed momentum heading into another tough race this weekend. The Bears' next race is against No. 8 Northeastern University on the Charles River in Boston, Mass.
