Lexington rower T.Z. Snail will suit up for the most dominant lightweight crew in college rowing this fall after Harvard named him to its men's lightweight class of 2030 on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Snail is one of eight first-years joining a program that just completed a three-peat at the IRA National Championships, the sport's premier collegiate event. Head coach Billy Boyce's squad won its 12th national title in program history on June 1, capping a season in which the first varsity boat went undefeated for the second straight year.

The Lexington resident trained at two powerhouse programs before earning his Harvard spot. At Belmont Hill School, he rowed under head coach Chris Richards, a Harvard alumnus who has led the varsity crew since 2001. Belmont Hill won the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association championship in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and has claimed that title 16 times overall.

Richards has noted on the school's athletics page that nearly all of Belmont Hill's top rowers go on to compete in college, with only one standout in the past eight years choosing not to continue the sport.

Snail also trained with the Cambridge Boat Club, a year-round competitive junior program on the Charles River that caps its roster at 12 athletes. CBC targets the Head of the Charles Regatta each fall and the USRowing Youth National Championships in the spring, and counts current and former Olympic athletes among its roughly 800 members.

After Harvard's third straight IRA title, Boyce told The Harvard Crimson on June 1 that the championship reflected the culture incoming rowers will enter. "More than anything, these guys know how to win … They have been joined each year by younger guys who come in with no sense of entitlement," Boyce said.

Harvard Athletics announced the full class of 2030 alongside seven other recruits from across the country and abroad. The program's fall schedule has not yet been published, but the Head of the Charles Regatta in mid-October is traditionally the first major showcase for Harvard's lightweight rowers.