This past weekend was an exciting time for Dartmouth crew, as both the women's and the lightweight men's teams competed in their first races of the season. The women's team defeated Boston University but fell short against Yale University, while the men's lightweight team dominated the University of Delaware.
The men's heavyweight team also raced, losing to Yale in the team's second regatta of the season.
The men's lightweight team began the season on a good note, knocking off Delaware in two of three varsity races to win its matchup. The team came in hoping to avenge a loss to Delaware last season.
"We knew that we had to be faster than them if we wanted to go into the season on a good note and be competitive with the top teams," lightweight rower Philip Henson '11 said.
The teams competed in a 2,000-meter race on Lake Lillinonah, Conn., a neutral site chosen because neither team wanted to make the long trip to the other's home lake. Henson said that although the race marked the first time the venue had been used for a crew race, the conditions were good.
Henson added that the Big Green's determination was the deciding factor in the wide margins of victory by the first and second varsity-eight teams. The varsity-eight won by a nine second margin, finishing in 6:00.3, while the second varsity-eight won by more than 14 seconds to finish in 6:02.5.
"We feel pretty good about starting the season on that note," Henson said. "We still have a lot more work to do to compete with the top crews in the League but we definitely got off to a good start."
The men's heavyweight team did not fare as well. Yale swept Dartmouth in all three varsity races to take the Olympic Axe trophy, awarded each year to the winner of the Dartmouth-Yale 2,000-meter sprint regatta.
The Big Green varsity-eight lost, 5:54.5 to 5:59.6, the second-eight lost, 5:50.5 to 5:56.2, and the third-eight finished in 6:14.1, well behind Yale's third-eight time of 6:01.6.
"I felt like all of our crews raced very hard and most of the races were very close, so we're confident going into the rest of the season that we will be able to make up the margin on Yale and hopefully beat them later on," captain Alex Pujol '11 said.
Pujol said the loss may not have much bearing on the outcomes of races later in the season.
"The past two years the first varsity boat has lost the duel against Yale and then gone on to beat them at Regionals and Nationals later," he said.
Despite the loss, the men's heavyweight team has more rowers than in recent years, and Pujol is optimistic about the season going forward.
"It's a bummer to lose, but there's something to be taken out of it," he said. "Everybody raced hard."
The Dartmouth women's team also had a disappointing day, finishing ahead of Boston University but placing second to Yale in all four varsity races on the Charles River in Boston, Mass., on Saturday. By winning, the Bulldogs captured the Class of 1985 cup.
Captain Emily Dreissigacker '11 said Yale gradually built a lead against Dartmouth in the regatta's varsity-eight race.
"It was fine," she said. "But there just wasn't enough fight, there wasn't enough aggression. Yale got up on us from the start and then they just slowly walked away."
The women's team, hoping to begin the season strongly against a Yale team that looked vulnerable after a loss to Cornell University last week, was disappointed with its first races of the season.
"Overall, we were not very happy with the result but I guess we're more motivated now to make up the difference," Hayley Daniell '12 said.
The women's team acknowledged, however, that Yale's advantage of having raced earlier in the season may have contributed to the defeat. Rowers attributed Yale's win to the team's ability to pull away later in the races.
"They're a really strong team, but I don't feel like we think we raced our best," Daniell said.
The team is confident that its best races are ahead of it, and is looking forward to racing against Yale again at the Eastern Sprints Championships in May.
"I think people are definitely disappointed with the race but I don't think people are discouraged, which is good," Dreissigacker said. "Sometimes it's good to be disappointed because that makes you work harder."
Daniell echoed Dreissigacker, adding that the loss provided extra motivation for the team going forward.
"I guess we're more motivated now to make up the difference," she said. "We all know that we have a lot of speed to find and we just weren't really rowing well yesterday."
The women's team will return to Boston to compete against Radcliffe University, Syracuse University, the University of Minnesota and Ohio State University on Saturday. The Big Green heavyweight team will race against Boston University and Rutgers University in New Jersey, while the lightweight team will go up against Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University on the Charles River, with both teams racing on Saturday.
