Both the Dartmouth women and the men's lightweight squad trumped Harvard -- a Northeastern powerhouse in the collegiate crew world -- in stunning fashion.
In a true upset, the Big Green women, tied for a No. 19 national ranking, bested the No. 8 Radcliffe team for the first time since 1998.
In their victory over Harvard, the lightweight men also provided a season's worth of drama in just one morning on their way to claiming the Biglin Bowl for just the third time in the race's 57-year history.
The heavyweight squad, however, finished a disappointing third this weekend to Boston University and Rutgers in its home opener.
The Big Green lightweight rowers stunned the Crimson in front of a highly partisan crowd in Cambridge. The first varsity squad jumped out to an immediate lead during the first 500 meters, putting Harvard down a costly six seats.
By the halfway point, the Crimson had gained on Dartmouth, cutting the Big Green's lead to just two seats. Unwilling to give up, Dartmouth pushed forward, reclaiming the lead that it was slowly starting to relinquish. When both teams crossed the finish mark, Dartmouth recorded a 6:16.1 time that bested Harvard's 6:18.3 effort.
The second varsity squad fell to Harvard in a race just as thrilling as the first. Harvard jumped to a three-seat lead in the first 500 meters, before doubling the advantage to six seats over the following 500.
But Dartmouth slowly started gaining on the Crimson squad that was unable to make open water. In the end, however, Dartmouth (6:30.3) lost by just two seconds and three seats to Harvard (6:28.5).
Dartmouth's third varsity eight routed its Crimson competition by 10 seconds. The Harvard rowers created a mini-controversy after the race by refusing to surrender their shirts to the Dartmouth victors. According to collegiate tradition, teams "bet" shirts and the losing squad normally gives the shirt to the winners.
As encouraging as the victory was, lightweight commodore Will Canestaro '06 put it in perspective, stressing that the team's attention remains focused on next month's Eastern Sprints Championships, where Dartmouth will compete against the best teams on the East Coast.
"Every dual race of the season is a practice for the Eastern Sprints," Canestaro said. "So although the win was exciting, on Monday we get back to work on the next week's races and finding speed for the Sprints."
Unaware of the men's lightweight victory, the Dartmouth women were busy providing a great show of their own. Taking the O'Leary Cup in similar dramatic fashion, the Dartmouth rowers beat up on both the nationally ranked Radcliffe team and Syracuse.
The first varsity squad showed tremendous determination in the first race. The Crimson had the advantage nearly the entire time. Harvard led by six seats at the halfway point, but the women in green slowly started moving up. Trailing by just two seats with 500 meters to go, the Big Green made its move, sprinting all the way to the finish line and capturing the victory. Dartmouth recorded a 6:26.8 time -- enough to down Harvard (6:27.4) and Syracuse (6:46.3).
"It was a really gutsy sprint, and it took 100 percent of every person in our boat," captain Anna Sjogren '06 said. "Beating Harvard was huge, and we are really excited to attack the rest of our season."
The second varsity rowers did not perform as well, placing fourth in their race. Both novice eight squads, however, had stellar performances, placing first in both races. The second novice squad's race was particularly compelling, as the team won by just one second.
The men's heavyweight squad could not match the success of Dartmouth's other crew teams. In their home opener, the Big Green men raced for ownership of the Bill Cup on the waters of the Connecticut River.
However, the home water did little to help the Big Green, which dropped all four races to Boston University and Rutgers. Rowing well for the first 500 meters, Dartmouth's first varsity squad (6:19.3) quickly fell to third and finished well behind the Terriers' 5:59.4 time.
In the second varsity race, the Terriers once again captured the win, besting Dartmouth's boat by 15 seconds.
Boston University also claimed victories in both novice races. The closest race of the day was the second novice race, which the Big Green lost by only six seconds.
This weekend helped to provide tremendous momentum for Dartmouth rowing. All teams will return to action next week when the heavyweights travel to Providence, R.I., to face Brown, the women head to Philadelphia to challenge the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton and the lightweights take on Rutgers and Yale in New Brunswick, N.J.
