This weekend, the varsity eights for the men's heavyweight and women's crew teams had races that came down to the wire, but only one was able to come out with a victory.
The men's heavyweight crew team got off to a solid start, beating Holy Cross at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass., on Sunday afternoon, just managing to edge out the Crusaders before the finish line.
The Big Green varsity eight finished with a time of 6:03.2 seconds while the Crusaders' crew crossed the line just a hair behind at 6:04.0.
The second Dartmouth varsity boat did not enjoy similar results, ending its race in second place in 6:23.0. Holy Cross' second boat won the race in 6:16.4, while the Crusaders' third varsity eight rounded out the field in 6:45.0.
Men's heavyweight captain Jamie Tansey '08 was pleased with the way the heavyweight crew rowed, despite the shaky second half on the first varsity race.
"We were pretty happy with our performance," he said. "Obviously we were more pleased with the first half of our race than the second half, but you're always happy with a win."
Dartmouth got off to a fast start in the race, but in the second half of the race Holy Cross picked up some steam and the Big Green was not able to sustain its pace.
"The first 500 meters we were in pretty good shape," Tansey said. "The start was a little rough, but we were up by about a boat length, and after that I don't know if they picked it up or we slowed down to be honest, but they closed on us. Our closing sprint wasn't what we wanted it to be, but we were able to hold on for the win."
While Dartmouth got the win, the team hopes to drop its times as the season goes on. Since it is still early in the season, the rowers have not tapered yet, meaning that the team has yet to race its fastest time.
"We haven't done many completed pieces, but if we can get more comfortable practicing rowing at 36, 37, 38 strokes per minute, we can step it up to 41, 42 strokes per minute," Tansey said.
Tansey also stressed the importance of rowing efficiently to make sure the rowers' effort gets translated into propulsion.
"We worked on a lot of starts and I think that was helpful," Tansey said. "It's also about getting a solid, powerful rhythm down as opposed to just rowing fast and getting many strokes per minute. We did that better in the first half rather than in a second half, but we did a decent job of establishing a strong rhythm."
Dartmouth's freshmen boat blew away all comers in the novice eight competition, clocking in at 6:07.3. The next closest boat came across the line more than 20 seconds later.
The women's team also began its season against Northeastern, Rhode Island and Boston College in Boston, Mass. on Saturday. While the women's varsity eights came in second by a mere 1.9 seconds, the varsity fours won their races.
While the men's heavyweight varsity eights were able to hold off the Crusaders at the finish line, the women's varsity eights were not able to edge Northeastern. The women's varsity eights finished in second with a time of 6:38.0. Northeastern came out victorious, with a time of 6:36.1.
The Huskies were up by a length at the 1,000 meter mark, and held on to the lead until the 1,500 meter mark. The Big Green made a move to try and pass Northeastern and cut the lead by half by the 1,700 meter mark.
The Huskies, however, stepped up in the last 300 meters of the race to take the victory.
The race for first was between the Huskies and the Big Green, as third-place Rhode Island was nearly 16 seconds behind Dartmouth, crossing the finish line with a time of 6:53.9. Even at the 500-meter mark of the race, it was evident that it would become a two-boat race as the Eagles and the Rams had already fallen behind at that point.
The women's varsity four boat was victorious with a time of 7:47.1. Northeastern finished in second place with 7:51.6 and Rhode Island was third in 7:53.5.
In other races on the day, the second varsity eight dusted the Northeastern crew by more than 10 seconds, as the Big Green crossed the line in 6:48.3.
Next week, the heavyweights will travel New Haven, Conn. on Saturday to take on Yale in the Olympic Axe.
The women will also travel to New Haven on Saturday to take on powerhouse Yale and Boston University.
The men's lightweight crew team will open up its spring schedule next week, as the Big Green travels to Worcester, Mass. to take on Delaware and Holy Cross.
