Same old story for Crimson

"It was the last row for us at Harvard," said stroke Simon Gawlik. "You want to cherish that time in the boat."

The Crimson put an emphatic exclamation point to an unbeaten regular season with a dominant triumph in the 144th rowing of the country's oldest intercollegiate athletic event, swamping the Bulldogs by nearly 20 seconds in a time of 21:25.6 into a stiff headwind.

The Crimson's victory, which was assured well before the mile flag, was its ninth in 10 years, its 22d in 25, and its 40th in 47 years under coach Harry Parker, who has become accustomed to exiting the premises dripping and delighted.

The tone had been set Friday when the Crimson combination crew made up of spares dunked Yale by open water. Yesterday, the latest in a series of Bill Manning's strong freshman boats won its 2-mile race by 2 lengths and the JV, after leading by open water midway through its 3-mile event, held off the Bulldogs by just over two seconds.

Though the Crimson varsity was a decided favorite against a Bulldog crew that struggled all spring and finished 15th at the Eastern Sprints, it was suitably wary. Two years ago, Yale had driven past Harvard in the final few strokes to win by a half-second, the narrowest margin since 1914. Last year, Harvard had to come from six seats down midway through to prevail.

This time, the Crimson were up against a Yale crew that had skipped last weekend's IRA national championships to train here for the 4-miler.

"In many ways, we've gone back to the drawing board," 6-man Pieter Morgan had said.

Yet with 20 inspired minutes, the Bulldogs knew they could create a memory for a lifetime, just as they had in 2007, when they came dashing from a length down to win at the wire.

"We learned that being the underdog, there's a power to that," said 3-man Andy Collard, who was in the boat that day.

To win this time, though, Yale would have needed a perfect race in what has been a most imperfect season at New Haven.

"I just didn't coach the way I coached these guys in the past," said John Pescatore, whose varsity won only one race. "There was a lot of stress and I let it get to me a little bit too much."

Both on paper and on the water, Harvard was clearly a superior crew and Gawlik and his confreres proved it from the start, when they quickly grabbed the lead and kept pushing.

"We just took charge," said coxswain Chris Kingston, "which is what we wanted to do."

That was a pleasant surprise for Parker, whose crews had lost the last two downstream races in 1996 and 1999 and who'd fretted that an outgoing tide and an incoming wind would make for rough water, as it did.

"It's a tough race even when you're 20 seconds in front," he said. "It's really satisfying to see the guys perform the way they did."

By the time conditions worsened at the midway point, the Crimson were up comfortably by 4 lengths, which figured to be enough to withstand anything but a submarine ramming. Yale hung in gamely, but this was Harvard's day and Harvard's week, starting with its triumph in the coxswain's race Thursday.

"We always judge ourselves by this race," said Kingston. "So getting a sweep here is one of the best achievements we can have."

When the varsity had taken its 4-mile victory lap and the oarsmen had tossed Parker into the river and jumped in themselves, there were hugs and a banquet and champagne all around.

"We always say this is the best time for us," said captain Teddy Schreck. "To go out together is a great way to finish."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.