In their final race of the season, the Dartmouth heavyweight and freshmen lightweight crews saw mixed results in Boston Saturday at the Tail of the Charles. The 2.5-mile course started at the MIT boathouse and ended at the Harvard men's boathouse, including the infamous Weeks Bridge turn, which can make or break a crew's placement in the last mile.
The heavyweight varsity divided its top two eights into four fours for the event, and the heavyweight freshmen sent down an eight. The lightweight freshmen entered two eights in the freshmen competition.
The heavyweight freshmen had the best finish of the Big Green boats, with a time of 12:45.8 and a fifth-place finish behind three crews rowing on their home course and the Brown freshmen. The lightweight freshmen boat with experienced rowers finished seventh in the same race, only 1.7 seconds behind the heavyweights and one second behind the Harvard lightweight A boat. The lightweight B boat finished 14th in the freshman eight race.
Stroke of the lightweight A boat Mike Milne '08 expressed disappointment in the race but believed the results would invigorate the team. "We started the season out on a really high note, [because] our erg scores are some of the fastest Dartmouth has seen, but as the season progressed we became complacent in this fact," Milne commented. "Now I think people realize we're not just destined to win and that we have to work for it."
The heavyweight fours finished eighth, 28th, 37th and 45th with none of the boats pleased with their performances against some of the top New England crews. The Harvard A boat solidly trumped the competition with a finish of 12:50.4, 10 seconds faster than the second place Boston University crew. The top Dartmouth boat finished with a time of 13:19.6. With perennial stroke and co-captain Pete Noteboom '05 absent from the racing due to a Rhodes Scholarship interview in Montana, the heavyweights rowed in lineups that were fairly unfamiliar to them.
"Most everyone is frustrated, but we're all supportive of each other," co-captain Arthur Peterson '05 noted. "Dartmouth crew knows how to turn frustration into motivation, and motivation into speed."
Saturday also marked the last day Dartmouth crews could row on the Connecticut River as the lightweights and women stayed home from racing to take out the docks and move weight-training equipment into the boathouse for the winter. "We know that the docks are pulled and it's time to start growing beards, going crazy and kicking ass," Peterson said.
