The Dartmouth crew program can have high expectations for their spring season after turning in impressive times at their fall regattas.
This past weekend's regatta, the Foot of the Charles, concluded the Big Green's fall schedule.
Perhaps the most impressive performance of Dartmouth's crew was the lightweight "C" boat racing in the men's varsity four division.
The boat, crewed mainly by sophomores, turned in the Big Green's top time in the race, finishing in front of Dartmouth's three other lightweight boats and all three heavyweight boats.
The lightweight "C" finished 20th out of the 48-boat race.
The Big Green's lightweight "A" freshman eight rowed their way to a strong finish, beating 22 of the 28 teams in their race including Harvard's lightweight "A" boat.
Dartmouth's heavyweight "A" boat finished just seconds behind and wound up with eighth place.
It was the first race for the heavyweight crew with "stacked" boats; they had previously split up their best rowers between two boats in "mixed" competition.
Christopher Brouwer '09, the two-seat in the freshman heavyweight "A" boat, was pleased with the team's performance but is cautious of complacency.
"In comparison to past years, we did pretty well as far as the standings go," he said.
"We rowed really well technically, which is one of our big focuses over the fall especially for the heavyweights. Our goal for the winter is to pull harder while maintaining our form."
The women's crew experienced another weekend of success in their novice eight race.
The "A" boat finished second at the Head of the Charles earlier in the fall and finished third this weekend at the Foot of the Charles.
The "B" boat finished in seventh place out of 24 boats, finishing less than a minute behind the "A" boat.
The team will train over the winter in preparation for the crux of the crew schedule -- the spring season.
