At the women's regatta, the first varsity boat placed fourth with a time of 13:54.5, while the freshmen had the standout performance of the day, earning second out of 23 crews with a time of 13:23.1.
The women's varsity boats faced a slight deviation from its typical eight-person races by racing in fours this past weekend.
"At Princeton [University] two weekends ago we had a really good race in eights, and we raced in fours and didn't have as good of races," captain Emily Dreissigacker '11 said. "I was excited for a second chance to race in fours."
The regatta also featured two of Dartmouth's biggest competitors, Radcliffe College and Brown University. Although the women's team beat Brown University at the Princeton Chase a few weekends ago, it was unable to best the Bears or the Crimson, the former of which took first in the varsity four race with a time of 13:39.5.
Coach Anne Kennedy said despite her disappointment that the team did not beat either crew, the regatta still helped the team gauge how they stand compared to the top teams in the nation.
Dreissigacker added that she was proud of the team's performance given the inherent disadvantages it faces because of the D-Plan.
"We typically struggle in the Fall because we start school so much later than other schools, so we have less time to prepare," she said. "But we definitely did better in the Fall than we have in the past, and that's exciting."
Dreissigacker added that the team has a lot of work to do before the spring races to reach the speed it wants.
Kennedy said that she was especially proud of the freshmen's performance at the Foot of the Charles.
"Our freshmen did a phenomenal job," she said. "There is so much young talent on this team and our future looks very bright."
With cold and windy conditions, the men did not fare quite as well at the Foot of the Charles this past Saturday, with the varsity four placing 10th with a time of 13:22.822 and the freshman eight boat also taking 10th with a time of 13:33.995.
"I thought all the guys rowed really hard," captain Alex Pujol '11. "It's our last race of the Fall, and I thought everybody was really aggressive."
Head coach Topher Bordeau said that he had mixed feelings about how the team would do before the race due to a few injuries on the team.
"Those things happen before you get ready to go, and that was difficult," Bordeau said. "But I had confidence that the team could respond to those situations."
The regatta featured top competitors Harvard University, Brown, Boston University and Northeastern University. While the team was unable to best the first three, the varsity four came out on top against Northeastern University, who placed in 11th right behind Dartmouth. Harvard boats took both first and second place with times of 12:46.415 and 13:00.592.
Pujol said that though the team was happy it beat Northeastern, it still has a long way to go to catch up with Harvard and Brown.
Bordeau added that he was excited by the potential he saw in the freshman boat this past weekend.
"Some of the guys on the lower end of the squad have really stepped up," Bordeau said. "I think they can contend for seats on the varsity boat."
With the fall season complete, both the men and women are looking ahead to their training trip in Austin, Texas, over winter break.
"It's a chance for the entire time to get a week of excellent training when other teams wouldn't get it," Bordeau said. "I always find the guys on that trip make really big leaps in terms of their technique and physiology." Pujol said he was confident in the team's ability to make some substantial strides during winter training and to "be in a really good place in the spring to surprise some teams."
Dreissigacker had similar sentiments for the women's team.
"If everyone on the team decides to commit [herself] to achieving our goals, we'll definitely achieve them," she said. "We've have the time, we have the resources, we have awesome coaches that know what needs to be done, and we can totally get there."
