Although Harvard won the first four races of the day against men's crew, Brown's varsity eight rowed to a stirring victory to recapture the Stein Cup on Saturday afternoon on the Seekonk River.
"To win the varsity race was the big one," said Head Coach Paul Cooke '89. "(Harvard) obviously had a ton of depth and showed that they were a really impressive squad, so that part of it was a bit rough on Brown. But in the end the varsity race is the biggest race, so to take that was a major victory for Brown."
The first two races were especially hard for the Bears, as the depth of the Crimson won out. In the second freshmen four race, Harvard "A" cruised across the line in 7:46.46, followed closely by Harvard "B" at 7:51.53, while Brown trailed behind at 8:16.44. Harvard also had two boats opposing Bruno's third varsity eight; Harvard "A" finished in 6:31.5, followed by Harvard "B" at 6:37.39 and Brown at 6:45.7.
The freshmen eight race provided the first drama of the day, as the teams dueled back and forth right down to the finish line. The Crimson ultimately pulled out the narrow victory by crossing the line in 6:42.21, just ahead of the Bears at 6:44.67. Still, the freshmen's performance pleased Cooke.
"I thought the freshmen rowed a great race, and it was nothing to be ashamed of," he said. "I was really proud of them. They came up short, but I admired their effort and how well they raced."
Rob O'Leary '09 said that now the freshmen need to take the next step.
"It's good to see them come in a close race like that, but they definitely need to learn to pull it out and get the win," O'Leary said.
Harvard then claimed its fourth victory of the day, when its second varsity eight finished at 6:12.95, 5.53 seconds ahead of Bruno.
Strong winds made the Seekonk choppy in the afternoon, but just before the start of the varsity eight race the sky darkened and the wind began to howl, creating waves that hampered steering at the outset of the race.
"We were a little shaky off the start," O'Leary, the varsity eight's coxswain, said. "The conditions picked up and there was pretty strong wind."
The Crimson stuck close to the Bears in the early stages of the race.
"Off the start we had about six seats, but then they pushed back into us through the first 1000, and they pulled even about 800 meters through the race," said co-captain Paul Strombom '08, who was at bow. "Right when we came through the 1000, we started getting our rhythm back, and that's where we made most of our move."
The varsity eight boat, made up of Cole Bonner '10, Ben Duggan '10, Chris Greene '08, co-captain Colin Keogh '08, Scott Morgan '10, O'Leary, Gareth Seymour '09, co-captain Paul Strombom '08 and Matt Wheeler '09, pulled away from Harvard at that point and continued to widen the gap all the way to the finish line, crossing it in 6:23.73 with a 5.1 second victory.
"It was great that they were able to get a convincing victory," Cooke said. "I thought they did a great job. They handled a lot of wind and rough water; they kept their poise ... and were able to really have a complete race. To see them move away at the end, I'm really proud of those guys."
Spurred on by mild temperatures and mostly bright skies, droves of fans turned out to support not only the men's crew but also the women's, who were racing Rutgers, packing the decks of the Narragansett Boat Club.
Afterwards, both teams gathered with friends and parents at the Marston Boathouse for a cookout.
The support pleased Cooke.
"We had a lot of fans, didn't we? It's great to have so many people out watching the crew and maybe a little bit of an event for Brown, which a lot of times the rowing isn't so much (a sport students come to watch)," he said.
Coming out of this weekend with added confidence, the Bears will now turn their attention to Northeastern, whom they will face on Saturday morning in Boston.
The Huskies should be just as stiff a test as the Crimson; on April 6 their varsity eight placed fifth in the Copley Cup final at the San Diego Crew Classic Regatta, just 28 hundredths of a second behind Harvard.
"They had a great showing out in San Diego, so we know they have a strong eight," Cooke said. "We know they're always very tough. We'll be expecting a strong race from them, and we'll see if we're equal to the task."
O'Leary thinks that the team is.
"They've shown some speed, but we'll be training hard this week, and we'll definitely be ready for them," he said.
