This past weekend marked the end of the fall racing season for the women's crew team.
Facing rough conditions on Princeton's Lake Carnegie, the women raced two eights and three fours in the annual Princeton Chase.
The Chase, a three mile head race, has been gaining popularity over the past few years and hosted roughly 30 women's teams.
The Dartmouth women entered two eights in the competition. In a field of roughly 30 boats, the first eight finished 6th and the second eight finished 24th.
Of the three fours entered, the first finished 5th, the second 28th, and the third 30th. The field of fours was comprised of 32 boats in all.
Among the competitors were schools such as Princeton, Yale, Georgetown, Rutgers and George Washington University. The women will meet many of the crews in attendance again in the spring, so the Chase was a good way to get an idea of how spring racing will go.
According to co-Captain Vanessa Santaga '96 the "conditions were horrendous." She said the first half of the course was straight, and that after a bend in the course the rowers faced a headwind for the whole second half.
The first eight "adapted well to the conditions and maintained our composure," Santaga said. She said the boat put on an impressive sprint and held off the University of Virginia and Georgetown in the last few hundred meters of the race.
"We were right with everyone," Santaga said. The difference between the 2nd place time and the 6th place time was only 10 seconds
"The margins we lost by are [margins] we will be able to make up over the winter," Santaga said.
Many of the rowers raced in both a four and an eight making it a very "mentally and physically challenging" day for all the rowers, Santaga said.
