In the lightweight race against Yale, the Dartmouth varsity eight boat excelled following a lineup switch prior to the race. The Big Green crew crossed the finish line nearly six seconds before the Bulldogs did, earning Dartmouth its third consecutive Durand Cup.
"After a tough loss to Harvard [University], it was good to bounce back right away," lightweight captain Ian Accomando '12 said. "The weekend overall was a good reflection of our hard work."
The next day, the Big Green first varsity eight defeated Columbia by a similar margin to claim the third consecutive Subin Cup. The two league wins pushed the lightweight team into second place in the Ivy League. Dartmouth's only loss this season came against No. 1 Harvard on April 14.
While the current Ivy League rankings will only factor into lane positioning at the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints in two weeks, the team's preseason expectations have begun to come to fruition, according to Accomando.
"The expectation was certainly of racing competitively this year, and the results are showing that," Accomando said.
If the Big Green beats Cornell University this weekend, Dartmouth lightweight crew will head to Eastern Sprints as the top entry in its heat, while Harvard will remain at No. 1 overall.
On the women's side, the No. 20 Big Green's focus prior to the race against Princeton and Penn was on the time margins between boats, given that No. 7 Princeton was the heavy favorite going into the race, according to captain Jamie Chapman '12.
"It's always motivating to focus on margins between boats because the cross-race comparisons determine the end-season polling and NCAA invites," she said. "We wanted to get rid of Penn as soon as we could and hang with Princeton and test our speed against them."
Princeton finished in a time of 6:45.4, with the Big Green coming in at 6:52.3. The Quakers finished the race at 7:04.4.
The league is especially close this year, and the Big Green's performance at the Ivy League Championship on May 13 will ultimately go a long way toward a potential NCAA invite, according to Chapman.
"We came into the season having no idea how our team would perform, which is pretty exciting," Chapman said. "We didn't know the league would be this close."
Despite an injury-riddled season, the Big Green will take aim at No. 17 Cornell this weekend in the team's lone home race of the season.
"Every year, Cornell is typically one of our closer races," Chapman said. "I don't think there's a pre-determined winner."
Facing national heavyweight powerhouse team No. 4 Brown, the always aggressive No. 15 Big Green men's first varsity eight boat jumped out to a fast start even leading at one point but could not hang on in the final 1,000 meters.
"The last few weeks, we've thrown in the kitchen sink at the start of the race," heavyweight captain Joe Polwrek '12 said. "It's exciting to be part of a boat like that we're really going for glory."
The Big Green's aggressive style will be tested in the Eastern Sprints, where the boat will race in a larger field of six.
"When you're not racing against one crew in particular, the psychological factor is a bit less," Polwrek said. "If you jump out to an early lead, you kind of have to learn how to hold your best 2,000-meter pace possible."
The Brown second and third varsity eight boats defeated the Dartmouth second varsity crew both by over 10 seconds. The Brown freshman eight boat held off a late charge from the rookie Big Green rowers to claim a three-race sweep.
All three squads will hit the water this weekend. Women's and men's lightweight crews will host Cornell, while the heavyweight squad will travel to Wisconsin to face the University of Wisconsin and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
