The Dartmouth lightweight rowing team beat the University of Delaware in three out of four races, winning the varsity eights, the second varsity eights and the varsity four in Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. on Saturday. Holy Cross, the hosts, had to withdraw.
That same day, the men's heavyweight and women's teams both had tough outings at the Housatonic River in Derby, Conn., -- the heavyweights were defeated by Yale and the women were defeated by Yale and Boston University.
The bright spot on the day for the women's team were the freshmen boats, as the freshmen eight and the novice four boats defeated the Bulldogs.
Lightweight crew had a successful outing in its first race of the season, against a Delaware team that had already raced several times. The varsity eight boat finished with a time of 6:15.3, beating the Blue Hens by just over three seconds.
The Big Green jumped out to an early lead in the race and was able to hold off a surging Delaware boat at the end.
"There's a lot to be said about the rhythm of the boat, and it's tough because there's a gentleman's rule that says you're not allowed to coach during the race," lightweight coach Steve Perry said. "We got a good start and got out to a five-seat lead, and then Delaware responded so both boats were going at the same speed for the next 2:30. In the last quarter of the race, the Delaware boat pulled to almost even, but we were able to get a three-second win. In order to do that, we had to break our rhythm a little bit but we were able to stay composed."
Co-captain Emerson Curry '08 was impressed with the way the varsity boat, composed of many younger rowers, responded to the pressure.
"We have a lot of depth this year," Curry said. "We had a lot of young upstarts who were in our freshmen eight last year like Ben Hemani '10 and Nick Dawe '10, and I was impressed with the way they stepped up to varsity and pulled out the win."
The second varsity boat, which rowed a time of 6:16.1, dispatched its Delaware counterpart by crossing the finish line 12 seconds ahead of its Delaware counterpart. The fourth Dartmouth boat was also victorious, finishing in a time of 7:20.3, ahead of its Delaware counterpart that finished in 7:29.2.
Curry added that while the Big Green rowers will look to improve upon their technique, they hope to retain their edgy mentality.
"At the beginning of the season we row a lot uglier than a lot of teams," Curry said. "You see some teams that just row beautifully, while we try to pull out some victories with toughness. At the end of the season we row much smoother, but we want to maintain our rugged edge."
The heavyweight crew team, fresh off its victory against Holy Cross, could not come up with its second straight victory. The Big Green finished with a time of 6:14.7, about 15 seconds behind Yale, who finished in 5:59.6.
Heavyweight crew captain Jamie Tansey '08 attributed the loss to the Bulldogs' quick start, as the Big Green was never able to recover from the early deficit.
"I thought we rowed a complete race, and our second 1,000 [meters] was pretty solid," he said. "Yale has a staggered start, so Yale got off to a really fast start and with a stagger it seems like they're way out in front, and it's tough rowing from behind. They got most of their margin in the first half of the race. We were expecting really tough conditions and we were practicing for that, so it was pretty easy to establish a good rhythm and from 900 meters in we were able to row well."
With the victory, the Yale heavyweights were able to retain the Olympic Axe, a trophy awarded to the winner of the varsity eight race.
The Bulldogs were dominant across the board, winning every race against Dartmouth by a comfortable margin.
Tansey would like to see his team make improvements in the first quarter of the race.
"For next week, we want to work on the first 500 meters of the race and making that shift from starting to getting into a rhythm in the race."
The Bulldogs were also dominant in the women's varsity eight race, as Yale rowed a 6:35.5 en route to its victory. BU was second with a time of 6:44.3, while Dartmouth finished in 6:47.8.
However, the freshmen for the Big Green had several solid races, as both the novice eight and the second novice four boats came through with victories, finishing with times of 7:03.9 and 8:47.5, respectively.
Women's crew captain Kate Mann '08 was disappointed in the loss, but was able to take away positives from the race.
"It's always a disappointment when you lose, but Yale's first boat is the defending national champions, and we were able to narrow the margins from last year," Mann said.
She added that the team is improving its form with practice out on the Connecticut River.
"We spent the last two weeks cleaning up some of our technique, and we were able to row a cleaner race than last week. We want to build upon our rhythm and rowed aggressively."
Next week, the heavyweights will travel to New Brunswick, N.J. on Saturday to take on Rutgers and Boston University in the Bill Cup.
The lightweights and the women's teams will both travel to Boston next week. The women's team will take part in the two-day Charles River Challenge, starting on Friday, while the lightweights will take on Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Biglin Bowl next Friday.
