WORCESTER, MA -- Dartmouth's lightweight crews earned two sets of bronze medals this weekend as the they competed against the nation's top collegiate crews at the annual Eastern Sprints Regatta held on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA.
The lightweights set the pace in the early stages of the regatta as the third-varsity four snagged a whopping 19-second victory to win their race outright while the second freshmen lightweight boat rallied in the final stretch of their race to take second behind Princeton on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, the lightweights continued to carry their momentum as the varsity eight, the JV eight and the first freshmen eight all raced well enough in the preliminary heats to qualify for the Grand Finals.
Dartmouth's heavyweight crews faced stiffer competition at the regatta as the second freshman heavyweight eight took third place on Saturday. And later, in the qualifying heats early Sunday morning, the Big Green's varsity eight, JV eight and first freshmen eight all placed in the middle of the pack and ended up racing in the Petite Finals later that afternoon.
Lightweights take bronze twice
The high points for the Big Green came in the JV lightweight eights race and the first freshmen eights race where Dartmouth finished third behind Yale and Princeton in the Grand Finals of both events.
In the Grand Finals of the JV lightweight event, where Dartmouth was the favorite, the Big Green struggled off the line as they fell to fifth place after the first 40 strokes.
But the crew held strong through the middle stretch of the narrow course. With Yale and Princeton battling for the lead in the first 1000 meters, Dartmouth trailed right behind and held the bronze position in check.
With 1200 meters down, Dartmouth inched up on Yale, who was then leading the pack. Twenty strokes later, Yale faded as Princeton and Dartmouth each gained seats on the Bulldogs.
But in the end, the Bulldogs pulled off a furious sprint finish to edge the Tigers, leaving the Big Green battling for third against the oncoming Crimson crew.
When the checkered flag was raised, Dartmouth finished just three seconds off Yale's winning pace, and a split-second ahead of Harvard.
"It was just good hard racing," senior Will Taylor said. "The body of the race was very strong and overall, I think it was an appropriate end to a very hard season."
"Though we hoped for first place, third place still represents the good job that we did," said coxswain Todd Griset '99.
In the first freshmen lightweight race, it was more of the same as Yale and Princeton battled for the gold medal and Dartmouth held steady in third place. The Bulldogs ended up besting the Tigers by two-tenths of a second to take top honors while the Big Green crossed the line ten second later ahead of Penn by three seconds.
In the Grand Finals of the varsity lightweight event, Dartmouth raced solidly through the first 1000 meters before a heavy chop and strong windgusts disrupted their pace.
Harvard's varsity boat pulled ahead at the midway point in the race before beating out Yale in the final sprint to the finish line, and leaving Dartmouth trailing in sixth place.
"The first 1000 meters of the race went well and we were even with MIT and Cornell, then we got rocked by the wind and never got it back," sophomore Chris Rea said. "We were disappointed, but our coach said he was still happy with our progress."
Most of the rowers agreed that it was one of their best races of the season as well. "I think we were all pretty happy with the way the boat was moving and with the improvement over previous performances this season," Austin Whitman '99 said.
Some of the varsity lightweights were even counting their lucky stars since they'd beaten Penn in the qualifying heat by only a tenth-of-a-second. The Quakers protested, but the judges ruled in favor of the 8th-ranked Big Green and allowed Dartmouth to advance to the Grand Final heat of six crews.
Heavies battle to eighth place
In the varsity heavyweight division, the Dartmouth crew fought a tough battle in the qualifying heat as they stayed even with Brown and Yale through the first 1500 meters before eventually falling to third and advancing to the Petite Finals.
While the Bears and the Bulldogs went on to win silver and bronze medals, respectively, Dartmouth took second in the Petite Finals to finish in eighth place overall in a field of 15 crews.
"For the first 1400 meters, we were even or up on the bronze and silver medal crews," said senior heavyweight James Jarrett. "We were running with the best in the country. We lost some of our momentum at the end of the third 500 as we neared the sprint and Yale was able to push their bow ahead of ours."
Heavyweight coxswain Alton Lo '99 will accept that race as a learning experience for the whole crew. He believes that his crew has a lot of potential in store.
"We raced two good races, but at this level, you have to be better than good," he said. "We are still working on putting together a good 2000-meter race for the national championships in three weeks."
On the JV heavyweight level, Dartmouth took fifth in the Petite Finals, putting them 11th out of 15 overall. The Big Green stayed in the hunt for the entire way and only started to lose steam in the final stages of the race.
"We pulled nearly even with Boston University and Rutgers with 500 meters to go but they moved out in the last few hundred meters," Liam Krehbiel '98 said.
Finally, in the freshmen heavyweight race, Dartmouth finished fifth in the Petite Finals, clocking a 6:12.60 -- a pace that was just 11 seconds off Penn's winning pace in the Grand Finals.
The IRA Regatta scheduled for next month will give the heavyweights a chance to settle the score with their rival crews. In the meantime, the heavies will concentrate on beating Syracuse this upcoming weekend and Yale the following Wednesday on their home course.
The lightweights, meanwhile, will spend the next few weeks training for the National Lightweight Championships scheduled for the last day of this month.
Next weekend, Dartmouth's women's crews will head to Lake Waramaug in New Canaan, CT for their Eastern Sprints Regatta.
