The men's lightweight crew team had a busy and mixed weekend. The second boat and freshmen boat shone, each putting together an undefeated weekend.
The rowers pulled double duty this weekend, with races on Saturday and Sunday. The Green raced in a three boat race against Ivy League rival Yale and Rutgers on Saturday. On Sunday, the rowers faced another Ivy League foe in the form of the Columbia Lions.
The sheer number of races this weekend and the fact that two of these races were Ivy League competitions made for an important weekend. Unfortunately for the Green, they could not put together a victory.
On Saturday, rowing on Worcester's Lake Quinsigamond due to unsuitable conditions on the Connecticut River, the men put together a strong race, rowing the 2,000 meter Durand Cup in 5:44.6 and breaking the lightweight course record set by Dartmouth in 1993. Yale served as the spoiler, however, overshadowing the Green's strong race with a record-breaking effort of its own of 5:38.3.
Rutgers came in third with a time of 5:55.4.
On Sunday, looking to make up for Saturday's results, the Green pulled a hard race into a stiff headwind, but it would be Columbia finishing on top with a time of 6:36.5. Dartmouth finished just 1.7 seconds back at 6:38.2.
Despite the varsity losses, Dartmouth fans still have something to cheer about. The junior varsity boat raced to victories both days, posting times of 5:54.1 and 6:47.7.
An even more impressive story than the junior varsity's success has been that of the freshman team. Still undefeated on the season, the freshman lightweights rowed to a close victory over Yale on Saturday in 6:00.3, and then cruised through Sunday, crushing the Lion's by 21.5 seconds in 6:41.3.
