WORCESTER — New coach, new era, but same old story.

Harvard rowing won the granddaddy of them all, the heavyweight varsity race at the 69th annual Eastern Sprints regatta, in a near-record time of 5:27.27, edging runner-up Brown on Lake Quinsigamond.

Harvard and Brown tied in points for the Rowe Cup, emblematic of heavyweight rowing supremacy, but the Crimson took home the trophy by virtue of winning the grand final.

In addition to the Rowe Cup — which it captured for a record-tying fifth straight time, equaling the Crimson crews from 1972-76 — Harvard earned the inaugural Harry Parker Cup for winning the grand final. The trophy is named for the late Harvard coach who passed away last summer of cancer after a 51-year career as director of the rowing program.

“One of Harry’s favorite quotes was that it’s a great day, and it was a great day,” said new Harvard coach Charley Butt, who took the top job after spending the previous 28 years as lightweight coach.

“It’s special for all of us because we got to race for the Harry Parker Trophy, and we nearly matched one of his records from a few years ago,” added Butt, after joining his happy crew with a ceremonial dunk in the lake. “The guys stepped up when they had to, and they demonstrated they can produce good performances when they have to. . . . I couldn’t be more thrilled, frankly.”

The morning action evolved into what can best be described somewhat humorously as ‘Swan-gate.’ The drama arose during Heat 1 as Harvard (5:35.12) was rowing to a narrow victory in a hotly contested race that included eventual runner-up Boston University (5:35.53) and third-place finisher Cornell (5:35.66).

But in the final 100 meters, a swan lolling on the calm water refused to budge its position as the Terriers and Big Red vied for the last qualifying finals berth. Cornell, which normally would have been relegated to the petite final, filed a protest which was upheld, setting up a rare seven-boat grand final.

Nearly as exciting was the upset in Heat 2 by No. 7 seed Northeastern, which turned the tables on top seed Yale, rowing 5:36.71 to the Bulldogs’ 5:37.45. Heat 3 went to Princeton (5:34.42), just ahead of Brown.

The final became a Harvard exhibition as the crew threatened the Crimson’s 2007 course record of 5:27.00, and came just 0.27 shy of the mark. The Crimson’s margin of victory was 1.22 seconds ahead of runner-up Brown (5:28.99). Princeton was 3.5 seconds back in third, just ahead of Northeastern (5:33.97), quickly followed by BU (5:34.65). Co-favorite Yale finished a distant sixth (5:35.49) among the seven crews.

“I knew at some point Brown was going to break out and lo and behold, they did at 500 (meters),” Butt said. “We had to make sure we stayed tough and they did. So I’m very proud of them, and I know Harry would be thrilled. Somehow, he knows.”

Northeastern ended up having its best Sprints in decades. It got nipped at the wire in the third varsity heavyweight final, as Brown caught the Huskies in the final 10 strokes to win in 5:37.25, ahead of NU’s 5:38.44. But the Huskies won their first Sprints gold medal since 1978 by winning the second varsity heavyweight final, in 5:37.78, staving off a late bid by runner-up Princeton to win by one second, in 5:38.84.

“They’ve come through all year just being the first 1,000 meters and then come from behind in the last 1,000 meters and won all their races that way,” NU coach John Pojednic said. “But today we said we have to get out in front earlier, and they did a great job of making that adjustment.”

Harvard almost won the freshman heavyweight final, but Brown got to the line first in 5:38.1, just 0.6 seconds ahead of the Crimson. Cornell claimed the Jope Cup for sporting the best lightweight crews, winning the grand final ahead of Princeton.