After the April 16 loss to Brown in 2001, the freshmen heavies never looked back, going a flawless 8-0 in domestic competition the rest of the way.

But what separates their near-perfect season from any other successful one is the utterly dominating fashion in which they did it.

In May 2001, the first-seeded freshman boat—consisting of Webb, Kip McDaniel, Will Riffelmacher, Jonathan Lehe, Winklevoss, Jon Durham, Ray Hohenstein and Oberst—brought home Harvard’s 54th Eastern Sprints title with a convincing win over Princeton.

Their time of 5:35.98 broke the course record for freshman crews.

In addition, the second boat—Andrew Serke, John-Neil Thompson, Alex Chastain-Chapman, Jeremy King, Jordan Sagalowsky, Tyler Winklevoss, Justin Puleo, Bryson and coxswain Cristin Chinn—also took first-place in its event.

In June, the freshmen again flexed their rowing muscles with a victory over Yale in the annual Harvard-Yale regatta. In the two-mile race, the Crimson never gave the Elis a chance as Harvard outpaced the Yale boat by nearly 18 seconds.

But many point to the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta as the ultimate achievement of their then-short Harvard careers. In England, the crew defeated two international teams and the Yale junior varsity lightweight crew on its way to knocking off a fearsome Oxford Brookes University squad in finals. The win, a come-from-behind victory, “exemplified the strength and confidence we had built by year’s end,” said Webb.

“We thought we could do it, and did,” said Oberst.

But by no means were they done. The next season, the Class of 2004 rowers had a year of experience under their belts and several joined the junior varsity squad—six of the nine in the JV boat were the past year’s freshmen—while current stroke McDaniel stepped up to the varsity heavyweight level. The recruits became a full part of the Harvard program, and the influence was palpable.

“It’s been outstanding having them,” Parker said. “[With them,] we haven’t lost very many races at all.”

At Eastern Sprints 2002, McDaniel and the first varsity took second place, falling to Wisconsin in a heart-breaking Grand Final, and the junior varsity boat won its race. The next month, the varsity and junior varsity boats went on to beat Yale in the Harvard-Yale regatta, allowing the 2V to finish an undefeated season off with a win.

The mostly sophomore contingent hadn’t lost a race since that first loss to Brown—on April 14, 2001.

“No one has been able to touch them all year,” Hugo Mallinson ’02 said at the time. “We’ve got a bunch of sophomores who’ve never lost at Sprints.”

Mallinson couldn’t even begin to grasp how right he was.

At Henley that year, Harvard this time sent four boats—two eights, and two fours. Three of them won gold; the one that didn’t, a four, fell to the only logical opponent—Harvard. Two Crimson fours met up in finals, making for “an extremely satisfying final,” said Chastain-Chapman.