Shelly Pearson and her No. 12 ranked Harvard University Women’s Heavyweight Varsity Rowing Eight hung on to win a thrilling race for the O'Leary Cup, leading a regatta sweep for Harvard University against No. 20 Dartmouth and Syracuse on the Charles River.
Pearson and her teammates won the Varsity race by 1.6 seconds over the runner-up Dartmouth and 4.3 seconds over Syracuse to start the regatta. The second Varsity Eight and Varsity Fours followed with more lopsided wins, all into a moderate headwind.
Harvard University led the Varsity Eight race most of the way, but every time they made a move, the Dartmouth countered. Dartmouth could never catch Harvard University.
Harvard recorded a winning time of 6:56.8 to hand Dartmouth its first loss. Dartmouth finished in 6:58.2, and Syracuse was close behind in 7:01.1.
