“I saw that we were up 500 meters into the race and I just told the guys that we were up and that we just had to keep pushing it because Columbia is really strong in the last 500 [meters] of the race,” Tisch said.
So when the Lions tried to take back seats, the Crimson was poised to counter, and did, extending its margin of victory back to open water.
“I couldn’t ask for a better way to close out my crew season,” Tisch said. “It’s like a dream.”
When Harvard crossed the finish line, it was far from alone in its triumph. The Crimson heavyweights were also in attendance, and had won their own national title hours earlier. The presence of both Harvard squads in addition to the Radcliffe lightweights created an atmosphere of intense team spirit.
“When we came to about the [300-meter] mark, I could hear this ridiculous roar—it was so different from before,” junior Alex Binkley said. “We’ve always gone down and it’s been us with our one trailer with three boats in it—our boat, a freshman boat and a JV boat—and the girls. To have two trailers of boats and everybody down there...We showed up and everybody else was already there. It gave us something to look forward to, showing up and there actually being a team down there.”
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Win the victory, the Crimson extend its run of winning national titles in every odd year since 1991. While this oddity worked for Harvard’s benefit this year, the daunting even-year curse is on the horizon.
“Now we just have to break it next year,” Binkley said.
—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.
MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT CREW
Results 4th at EARCs, 1st at IRAs
Coach Charley Butt
Captain Nick Blannin
Highlights The No. 1 Harvard lightweight varsity boasted a perfect 5-0 record in the spring season before falling to Navy. However, the Crimson rebounded to beat Yale and Princeton the following weekend. Harvard struggled in a headwind at Sprints, placing fourth while the Tigers took the Eastern title. But, the Crimson finished on top at last, as Harvard won the IRA national championship with open water.