Dartmouth crew could not carry the momentum from last week's big wins into this weekend's regattas.
The women's rowing team fell to the nation's first-ranked team, Princeton, but beat out the University of Pennsylvan in the Award Plaque Regatta. Rutgers thwarted the men's lightweight's search for the Durand Cup, but the Big Green still bested Yale, who had hoisted the cup for 11 straight years. The heavyweight men gave a tough Brown squad a run for their money, but came up short in the end.
The Dartmouth women's team, celebrating its 30th anniversary and coming off a thrilling victory against Radcliffe, entered this weekend ranked No. 10 nationally.
The women's team, however, was rowing against its stiffest competition of the season -- the number-one-ranked Princeton team.
In the varsity eight race, the Tigers, who finished in 8:18.3, proved worthy of their ranking, pacing Dartmouth by almost 19 seconds. Brown fell behind to third, recording a time of 6:51.4.
Due to injuries, the Big Green couldn't field a squad for the second varsity eight and Princeton again took top honors. Dartmouth took third in the varsity four and took second and fourth in the novice eight race. Princeton ended up sweeping the races on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
The men's lightweight squad faced a double header this weekend. First they faced Yale and Rutgers in the Durand Cup and then took on Columbia on Sunday for the Subin Cup. However, results for the Subin Cup were not posted by press time.
In the final race of the Durand Cup, the first varsity eight took to the water. The race came down to the final stretch, and just seconds separated each boat.
When the smoke finally cleared, Rutgers' 6:30.0 time was just too much for Dartmouth and Yale, who finished in 6:35.9 and 6:37.9, respectively
However, the Big Green had more luck in the second varsity race, despite the strong headwinds. Dartmouth's 6:49.5 time was enough to get them to the finish line ahead of both Yale and Rutgers.
Slower than, but just as hotly contested as, the first varsity race was the third varsity eight race in which Yale took the win. The Bulldogs paced the competition by just 3.7 seconds, coming away with a 7:05.0 time.
In the freshman eight contest, Yale showed their depth, recording a 6:53.1 time, which was just too much for Dartmouth's 7:11.6.
In Providence, R.I., Dartmouth's heavyweight men faced off against Brown on the Seekonk River. Taking advantage of the favorable conditions, the Bears rowed to very fast times and swept all three events this weekend.
In the first varsity eight race, Dartmouth's 5:53.89 was blown out of the water by Brown's 5:30.11. In fact, the Big Green would have had a better race with the Bears' second varsity squad, who torched Dartmouth's second boat's 6:21.08, finishing at 5:59.04.
The freshmen heavies also couldn't keep up with Brown, falling by 25 seconds as Brown recorded a time of 5:56.94.
Next week, the men's lightweight team will host Cornell in the Baggaley Bowl. Their heavyweight counterparts will travel to Wisconsin to compete in the Cochrane Cup on Saturday, followed by a race against Oregon State on Sunday. The Dartmouth women will have a home race against Cornell on Saturday, followed by a race against Columbia on Sunday.
