In this weekend's tightly contested Class of 1984 Plaque regatta in Philadelphia, Penn., Dartmouth's women's crew team bested University of Pennsylvania in five out of seven races, but could not overcome the competitors from Princeton to claim the victory.
Both the heavyweight and the lightweight crews, meanwhile, were swept in weekend competition against their conference foes.
Navigating through strong headwinds in the first varsity race, the Dartmouth women settled in between Princeton and Penn for a second-place finish. The Big Green crossed the finish line in 6:43.1, while Princeton finished at 6:37.3.
"Overall, Penn has gotten much faster this season," said captain Katherine Harney '09. "Now we've gotten a more competitive racing partner. Traditionally, it's always been Princeton, then Dartmouth, then Penn, but now all the races were pretty close across the board."
The second varsity race proved to be the most competitive of the day.
After a neck-to-neck battle, the boat from Princeton powered ahead of Dartmouth for a time of 6:49.0.
Although Dartmouth threatened Princeton's boat for most of the race, Harney said, the Tigers gained in the final stretch and pulled through for the win.
The Big Green finished in 6:52.2, three seconds behind Princeton and three ahead of Penn.
"All the teams have been having much tighter races," Harney said. "It's been a trend throughout the season. But it's also made for more exciting racing between the schools."
Penn's sole win over Dartmouth came in the varsity four race. While Princeton maintained a lead over the Big Green from the start, Dartmouth stuck with Penn, but could not pull through to secure the second-place finish. The crew finished the race in 7:44.0.
The novice boat also faced off against Penn, knocking off the Quakers by a six-second margin.
"Overall, it was pretty good racing," Harney said. "I think that everyone was content with their races, but it was still a little disappointing."
The regatta also offered a coxswain race where the captains steered the boats, added Harney.
"There were lots of crashes, but everyone had a good time," she said.
Harney said that women's crew will use its last dual race against Cornell on May 2 to attempt to gain a little more speed before the Eastern Sprints on May 17.
Rowing on home waters, meanwhile, the Big Green heavyweights fell to top-ranked Brown, as the Bears took all four races in the Atlanta Cup.
The Big Green's mediocre performance during the third varsity race was representative of much of the afternoon for Dartmouth, as the Big Green's boat lost the lead early on and crossed the finish line in 6:09.49, 20 seconds after Brown.
The Big Green rookies similarly came out strong at the start but could not retain their lead, as Brown surpassed Dartmouth in the second half of the course to claim the race by a five-second margin.
In the second varsity race, Brown posted a time of 5:32.73, an overwhelming 28-second lead over Dartmouth's finish at 6:00.39.
Faring better against strong headwinds that affected many of the day's races, the Big Green's first varsity boat clocked in at 5:42.72, nine seconds behind Brown's 5:33.06 finish.
Dartmouth's lightweights did not fare much better in their competition at the Baggeley Cup in Ithaca, N.Y., losing every race in which they competed at the event.
The novice boats kicked off the regatta and posted the day's closest result.
The rookies stuck with the Big Red to turn in a time of 6:06.8, about four seconds behind the Cornell boat.
In the second varsity race, Cornell's boat ran away with the lead from the start and never let up.
The Big Green posted a time of 6:16.4, while Cornell crossed the finish line in 6:02.7.
The first varsity race largely mirrored the rest of the day's competition, as Cornell grabbed an early lead over Dartmouth and finished the race in 5:59.3.
The Big Green finished nearly eight seconds later with a time of 6:07.6.
While the lightweights will take next weekend off in preparation for the Eastern Sprints, the heavyweights will conclude their conference action as they square off against Harvard and Northeastern University on May 2 in Boston, Mass.
