This past weekend, the Dartmouth rowing club headed down to Boston to compete in the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta. Despite 10 to 15 mph headwinds and the fact that Dartmouth's schedule forces the teams to get a later start training on the water than most rivals, the men's lightweight and heavyweight teams, as well as the women's team, posted very strong results.
The women's team came in 18th place in a field of 47 teams with a solid time of 17:28.12. Unfortunately, at the last mile marker, the team caught a boat-stopping crab that cost the team several seconds.
Regrouping immediately, the team was able to hang on and beat Syracuse University, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Navy and Boston College, among others. Perhaps even more encouraging is the fact that the women finished less than two seconds behind perennial league-leader Cornell.
"At the end of the race it was just really exciting for us to see that we were ranking up there with the big rowing schools and to consider that if we hadn't caught the crab, then we could have been ranking above them, not among them," Rebecca Ehrlichman '04 said.
The men's lightweight team posted the strongest Dartmouth finish of the day, placing sixth overall and fourth among collegiate teams in a very deep field. The lightweight rowers crossed the line with a time of 15:42.1.
The lightweights finished less than a second behind a strong Navy team and were victorious over Ivy rivals Cornell, Princeton and Penn.
"While we didn't feel we had our best race, we know that we are now in the running with the best lightweight crews in the country," Matt Muffelman '03 said.
As for the men's heavyweight team, its 13th-place finish was far better than last year's showing in the 25th spot. Posting a time of 15:22.2, the heavyweights beat regional rivals Yale, Rutgers, Navy, Boston College and many others.
"I thought the guys rowed a gutsy and solid race into tough conditions. The Charles' boat put us where we want to be, which is right in striking distance of the top crews in the nation," heavies captain James Conner '03 said.
"It was helpful to the work we want to do over the next couple of months to have a solid finish and establish where we are and where we can be in the spring."
After a phenomenal weekend down in Boston, Dartmouth's crews are gearing up for a busy weekend. The men's lightweight team has hopes of stepping it up this weekend at the Princeton Chase.
"We are hoping to exact some revenge, and feel with a solid race, we should be at the front of the pack," Muffelman said.
The men's heavyweights and the women's second and third varsity boats will be heading to Saratoga, N.Y. for the Head of the Fish on Saturday, as well. Additionally, all of the novice crews will be competing in the Dartmouth Invitational, the first race for many of the '06s.
