Harvard Heavyweight Eight to Row for Henley Title

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Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England -- The Harvard heavyweight varsity eight won for the second straight day Saturday to advance to the Ladies’ Challenge Plate final at the Henley Royal Regatta. Harvard’s other crews lost their semifinal matchups, but a pair of alumni moved on to Sunday’s finals.

The Crimson varsity led Leander Boat Club B throughout the race, winning by a 3.25-length margin and finishing in 6:38. Harvard moves on to face the combined crew from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, which includes former Crimson oarsman Simon Gawlik. That boat defeated Berliner Ruderclub of Germany and Imperial College, London by three-quarters of a length. Harvard and Oxford/Oxford Brookes will race Sunday at 3:10 p.m. local time, 10:10 a.m. Eastern.

Harvard is making its ninth final appearance in 10 tries in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate and seeking its seventh title in the event.

Henrik Rummel, who sat two seats away from Gawlik in Harvard’s victorious 2007 Ladies’ Plate entry, also qualified for a Henley final. He is racing as a part of the Princeton Training Center four without coxswain. That boat topped Canada’s Victoria City Rowing Club and Shawnigan Lake School A entry by a length and will face Club France for the Stewards’ Challenge Cup.

Harvard’s freshman eight fell to Washington by 1.5 lengths in the semifinals of the Temple Challenge Cup. The varsity four, meanwhile, returned to action following a day off Friday. In that Prince Albert Challenge Cup race, the Crimson lost by the slim margin of two-thirds of a length to University College, Dublin.

Malcolm Howard saw his run in the Diamond Challenge Sculls end at the hands of world-champion Mahé Drysdale of New Zealand.