While the Big Green men's heavyweight crew team began its spring season with a bang at its regatta on Saturday earning first-place finishes in nearly every category the men's track and field and golf teams had a bit of a slower start, finishing in the middle of the pack in their respective matchups.
MEN'S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW
The first, second and third varsity boats all won in their matchups against Holy Cross University on Saturday. The regatta was the first of the team's spring races that will determine seeding for the Eastern Sprints Championship in May.
"It's tough to determine how we were going to match up against [Holy Cross] this early in the season," captain Alex Pujol '11 said. "But I think we performed at the level we thought we would."
The team traveled to Austin, Texas, for its training trip before the season, attempting to work on "establishing a really strong rhythm to hold down the race," Pujol said. He said the team tried to improve its consistency in the middle section of races.
Even with its decisive victory against Holy Cross, Pujol said the Big Green still has lots of work to do. Dartmouth races against Yale University which the Big Green has not beat in seven years next Saturday.
"This year is probably our best chance to beat them," Pujol said. "We're going to do everything we can to put ourselves in a good position for Saturday."
The team will face other longtime rivals in the next few weeks, including highly-ranked Brown University and Boston University.
Pujol said the team feels an added incentive to perform well after its fairytale ending to last season, when the 12th-ranked men's team finished fifth at the Eastern Sprints and won the Callow Award for being the most inspirational crew in the Eastern Sprints league.
"It would be really nice if we could put together a team this year like we did last year," Pujol said.
TRACK AND FIELD
The men's track team performed well at meets at Tufts University and Princeton University over the weekend. The team chose to send sprinters and hurdlers to Tufts for the annual Snowflake Classic and distance runners to Princeton.
"Going into it, we were all looking for evidence that the training over spring break had worked," captain Tyler Ford '11 said.
Ford said there were some "outstanding individual performances" at the Snowflake Classic, although the team placed fourth overall at the meet.
Highlights included Jacob Evanter '13, who placed first and set a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles event with a time of 15.24, and Christopher Fletcher '11, who placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 15.34.
At Princeton, Jonathan Gault '13 placed second in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 30:11.99, smashing his previous personal record by more than 30 seconds.
Gault is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
Ford called both the meets "incredibly positive" for the team, adding that he was especially proud of the team's performance given the cold and windy conditions.
The Big Green will next travel to an invitational at the University of New Hampshire on Saturday.
"I'm feeling really good about it," Ford said. "That's going to be a meet where pretty much the whole team is going to be there, so we'll see how the team as a unit performs."
The women's team also competed in both invitationals.
The Big Green placed third behind Springfield University and Tufts University at the Tufts meet, where the Big Green finished first in three individual events. Laura Hempel '12 took the top spot in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:55.41, Alexandra Tanner '11 won the 400-meter hurdles event with a time of 1:01.27 and Megan Faeth '12 won the javelin event with a distance of 38.36 meters.
The team took a smaller group of people to Princeton for the weekend, but several individuals were able to find success. Rookie Caitie Meyer '14 finished fourth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:04 and Tina Alexander '11 showed her depth by placing in three throwing events the discus (second place), the hammer (fifth place) and the javelin (third place).
MEN'S GOLF
The men's golf team was unable to overcome poor weather and field conditions at the Yale Spring Opener on Saturday, finishing fifth out of 10 teams.
Co-captain Davis Mullany '11 said he was looking forward to the meet given the team's successful training trip in West Palm Beach, Fla., where players were able to practice for long hours in impressive facilities.
Because the men's culminating competition is the Ivy League Championship in late April, Mullany said the team always hopes to defeat League teams. At the Spring Opener, Dartmouth lost to Harvard University by four strokes but was able to best Yale University, a traditionally strong conference team.
"I was surprised at Yale's performance," he said. "They're normally one of the better teams in the League and they didn't play too well, especially with the home advantage."
Despite the overall team performance, co-captain Peter Williamson '12 shot a 10-over 150, finishing 10th.
Mullany said Williamson's strong performance reflects his recent work in practice to significantly improve his putting.
The team will face more League competition this weekend at Princeton.
"We're definitely pretty confident going into the tournament," Mullany said. "Our overall goal is to win the [League] Championship, and I really think we have a great chance of it this year."
