The Dartmouth women's crew team returned to the New Jersey waters this weekend to compete in the NCAA Championships against 15 rowing powerhouses. The first varsity eight posted Dartmouth's best showing in the three-day event, but could not withstand Radcliffe's last-minute surge, and settled for second place in the third final.
Dartmouth earned a berth to the championships, held in Camden N.J., after securing a fifth-place finish at the EWRAC Sprints on May 19.
The Big Green sent three crews to the championships, all of whichi competed in the third finals on Sunday.
The top three schools in Friday morning's heats automatically qualified for the semifinals on Saturday, while the bottom three competed later that day in the repechage races. The first three schools in the repechage moved on to the semifinals and the bottom four teams competed on Sunday in the third finals.
In the first varsity eight race in the third final, Radcliffe claimed the lead out of the gate. At the 500-meter mark, the Big Green took advantage of an early opening to pass the Radcliffe crew.
The two frontrunners stayed neck-and-neck until the last 500-meter stretch. Radcliffe maneuvered a successful push, tearing through the final leg two seconds faster than the Big Green crew and pulled through for a first-place finish with a time of 6:24.9.
Dartmouth's boat crossed the finish line within striking distance, finishing the course in 6:27.4 to secure second place.
Dartmouth opened the second varsity third final in third place, ahead of Oregon State University. The Beavers came back in the last 700 meters of the race, however, sprinting past the Big Green to take second place with a time of 6:48.79. Dartmouth crossed the finish line in fourth place and posted a time of 6:57.69.
The varsity four took fourth in the third final, registering a time of 7:47.15.
Captain Kate Harney '09 said the crews were introduced to new styles of racing in the more competitive arena of the championships.
"It was great for us to see all the different tactics that other teams across the nation used while racing," Harney said. "We were able to gauge how the teams in our league raced, but we could also recognize the different approaches used by other schools. I think a lot of the races showed that we have to have more endurance at the end of the race."
Dartmouth must maintain its early pace to the finish of races in order to be competitive against premier crews, Harney said.
"We lost pace at the end, and allowed other big crews to pull through," she said. "We need to finish strong in the last 100 meters in order to do well.
While the boats performed poorly in the morning heats, Harney said that the team used the early races to check out the rest of the competition, adding that the first varsity eight also experienced an equipment malfunction when something got stuck in one of the rudders.
Dartmouth still made inroads during the repechage, as both the first varsity and second varsity boats beat Radcliffe in their respective races.
"All the boats stepped it up and raced good races," Harney said. "Even though we didn't qualify for the semifinals, everyone improved on the results in the morning. It was nice to beat the Radcliffe crews in the repechage, seeing how they're a league competitor and we lost to them previously in the season."
The competition pitted top-tier schools against one another, which translated into tight races that left no room for error, Harney said.
"Many of the results, especially in the grand final, came down to small margins," she said. "The racing was much tighter and more intense. After realizing how tight the pack would be, it was nice to know that we were right there in the middle of it."
The Big Green racked up 12 points in the team standings, while Stanford University topped the charts with 85 points, claiming the NCAA team title and taking home the gold medal in the varsity eight.
Although Dartmouth did not improve its standings, Harney said that the championships served as a motivator for the upcoming season.
"Even though we didn't better our rankings, we realized that we deserved to go to the championships," she said. "It was pretty motivational to see that we could compete at that level."
Harney said the team is eager to return to the national stage next year.
"Overall, we learned from the whole experience, and everyone is pretty pumped to get back next year," she said. "We've gotten a taste for it. I think our mentality has shifted. There are a lot of things we can control to make sure that we can get back there, but we're willing to put in the work."
