CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Columbia finished ninth of 21 teams at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston on Sunday.  The Lion varsity lightweights finished in a time that just edged Harvard by twelve-thousandths of a second.  Columbia finished in a time of 16:05.654, also ahead of Penn, Dartmouth and Yale.

"I thought it was a good row for our guys," noted head coach Scott Alwin.  "It was a clean row.  Our coxswain, Oskar Zorilla, did a good job.  He's coxed this race before and it was good to have his experience in what was a fairly young boat."

In the eight-man boat that raced at this year's Head of the Charles race, Columbia had three rowers who had competed for the varsity last spring.

"For the experience we had, it was a good result and we're looking to build on that next week at Princeton," Alwin said. 

The Princeton Chase, which takes place next Sunday, Oct. 25 at Princeton, is a more straight-forward course than the winding, narrow race down the Charles River.  The Princeton Chase will close out the fall season for the Columbia lightweight squad.