The Dartmouth men's varsity lightweight crew team won the Marlow Regatta last Sunday in Henley-On-Thames, England, two weeks after taking the silver medal in the national championship regatta at Syracuse, N.Y.
The Marlow victory gives Dartmouth the last laugh in its ongoing rivalry with the Princeton team.
Princeton edged Dartmouth for the gold at Syracuse, but the Big Green nipped the Tigers by 0.6 seconds last month in the Eastern Sprints.
Dartmouth beat Princeton by open water in the semifinals at Marlow.
Victory at Marlow
The Big Green won three races to take the crown, defeating the University of Newcastle and Eton College in the final, although the semifinal victory over Princeton was the sweetest.
"That was the same crew that beat us at the nationals," said crew Coach Dick Grossman in a press release. "There was some measure of revenge and satisfaction in that race."
"Beating [Princeton] by a lot was just pretty big," because of the rivalry between the teams, Chris Schmidt '96 said in a telephone interview from Henley-On-Thames, England.
"We were hoping," Grossman said in a telephone interview from England, "that we'd run into them at sometime [in England] and have a chance to get back at them."
The Green jumped out to an early lead and, despite starting in the outside lane of the two-turn race, were ahead after the first turn.
"We were so far ahead we just kept adding to our lead," Grossman said.
The Big Green also had a quick start in the finals and had a full length lead on the other two boats by the half-way mark. But the Eaton boat began closing near the end. "We just tried to fight them off," Schmidt said.
A closing sprint between Dartmouth and Eaton ended in a half to three-quarter length victory for the Big Green.
Grossman served as the team's coxswain because Brian Cronse '94 had not yet arrived in England. While the coach cannot normally compete intercollegiately, the team competes as the Dartmouth Rowing Club in England, so the subsitution was allowed.
The win was the Big Green's first at the Marlow since 1987.
This Saturday the team races at Reading, England, in final preparation for the Henley Regatta in two weeks, which features significantly better teams than the Marlow. The team returns from England on July 4.
Silver at Nationals
The varsity lightweight eight narrowly lost to Princeton in the national champsionship, held at Onondgaga Lake in Syracuse, N.Y. two weeks ago.
The loss spoiled what was otherwise an undefeated year for the Big Green. "We did hope to win it," Grossman said. "We rowed a great race at Syracuse."
Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth were almost neck-and-neck until the very end when the Tigers pulled ahead of the Big Green and the Crimson faded slightly, finishing third.
Cornell, Yale and Fordham placed fourth through sixth.
