Splendid Spring Sports

Crew

The heavyweight men won their third consecutive national title at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) regatta in Camden, New Jersey. It was the third straight undefeated season for coach Harry Parker’s oarsmen, who also triumphed at the Eastern Sprints in Worcester. The lightweight men’s odd-year streak of national titles, dating from 1991, finally ended at the IRA, although they captured the Eastern Sprints in a photo finish by a mere 0.2 second. The Radcliffe varsity took bronze at the NCAA championships.

Baseball

With a two-game sweep of Cornell, 2-0 and 4-2, the baseballers (29-17) captured their fifth Ivy title since the league began two-division play in 1993. In the NCAA tournament, national powerhouse Cal State Fullerton shellacked Harvard, 19-0, and Missouri eliminated them with a 14-6 thumping.

Sailing

In June, the women’s sailing team captured their fifth national title—and first since 1972—at the Intercollegiate Sailing Association championships held at the Austin Yacht Club, in Texas.

Tennis

The women’s team crushed all Ivy opponents as it roared through the league undefeated, then outplayed Maryland and Tennessee in first- and second-round NCAA matches before losing to top-seeded Stanford. The men’s top player, Jonathan Chu ’05, lost in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, the deepest that any Harvard man has advanced since G. Colket Caner won the title in 1916. Chu and Ashwin Kumar ’08 also reached the NCAA semifinals in doubles.