WORCESTER, Mass.--The Big Green varsity heavyweight crew, entering Eastern Sprints on Sunday as the defending champions, had its work cut out when it was placed into a morning heat with undefeated Brown and the University of Pennsylvania, both seeded ahead of Dartmouth.
Brown, the number-one seed, coasted across the finish line in five minutes, 42.08 seconds. Since only the top two finishers advance to the afternoon grand final, Dartmouth had to battle with Penn and Cornell for second place.
Penn finished second and Cornell was third. The big surprise was that Cornell, seeded twelfth, finished two seconds ahead of seventh-seeded Dartmouth.
The Big Green sought revenge in the petite final and finished 0.32 seconds ahead of Cornell with a time of 5:40.38.
The second varsity, seeded eighth, finished 2.5 seconds behind Brown during the heats to qualify for the afternoon grand final where it finished sixth.
The freshman eight did not qualify for the grand finals in a race which the Big Green protested. Brown, in lane two, jumped out to an early lead and Dartmouth, in lane three, rowed most of the course in the wake created by the Brown boat. Brown finished first and Yale, unaffected by the wash of the Brown boat, was second, only one second ahead of the Big Green.
The protest submitted to the regatta officials was denied and Dartmouth dominated the afternoon's petit final, finishing three seconds ahead of MIT.
