The men's heavyweight rowing team came up short Saturday, losing two races by close margins and falling 4-0 against Yale on the Housatonic River.
The Bulldogs top boat completed the standard 2000 meter course in 6:06, two seconds faster than Dartmouth's first boat.
"That is a fairly close race," Coach Scott Armstrong said.
The second freshman boat lost by 3.6 seconds, while the second varsity boat and the first freshman boats finished more than eight seconds behind their Yale counterparts Saturday.
Varsity Coxswain Trevor Peterson '96 said the Big Green's first boat "went off the line pretty hard and rowed the first 1000 meters without a change in the margins. At 1000 meters we moved up a couple seats on Yale, and then Yale moved out over the next 100 meters."
Peterson decided to start the sprint earlier than planned in an attempt to catch the Yale boat.
"We gained back a lot of ground in the sprint, but it wasn't enough," he said.
"Yale at one point had a full boat length, which is a lot. Dartmouth came back in the last half but couldn't catch them," Armstrong said.
According to Peterson, "everything went well. We rowed a very solid race."
Armstrong said Dartmouth boats tend to start slow and finish strong.
"At the Yale race we tend to not do so well because of a lack of water time. We haven't been on the water long compared to Yale. They've gained speed we'll gain in the next week," Peterson said.
"Typically with our northern climate Dartmouth crews start out good and get better through the season," Armstrong said. According to Armstrong, another reason for Dartmouth's slow start is the D-Plan. "The people who were off in the winter need more time to reach their full potential," he said.
One thing that may have contributed to the loss was the absence of a rower who was sanctioned by the College for poor grades.
"We definitely miss that rower's horsepower. He was one of our strongest oarsmen. We'll have to make up for that by every man working a little harder all year," Armstrong said.
Peterson said the missing man "was an asset to the team, but we're committed to making up for that."
Yale is usually ranked among the top 10 teams in the country, Armstrong said.
Armstrong predicted that in the next poll Dartmouth's varsity team will be ranked around 10th.
Last year Dartmouth was ranked second in the east, and Armstrong is optimistic about the future, even though the team lost six seniors to graduation last year.
"This year we have a very young varsity. It is almost entirely juniors," he said.
Peterson said conditions at Yale were ideal despite snow falling during the race. "It was really cold. People couldn't feel their fingers. But we're used to rowing like that in Hanover," he said.
"It was real Dartmouth weather," Armstrong said. "But the water was great and very flat."
The heavyweight's next match up will be against the University of New Hampshire on the Connecticut River this Sunday.
"You always hate to make predictions," Armstrong said, but "typically we hammer the University of New Hampshire."
