The women's crew team raced against the University of Rhode Island and Rutgers University on Saturday, in Kingston R.I., and continued the weekend with races against Columbia and Northeastern University on Overpeck Lake in Leonia, N.J. on Sunday.
The men's heavyweight team got off to a slow start in their season opener, earning the runner-up spot in the top three eights.
"Individually and as a team, our results were a little disappointing," said Sam Seder '16, who rowed on the second varsity eight boat, finishing second. "We have a lot of strong guys and potential, but unfortunately we did not race our best race this weekend."
The Big Green's varsity four was the highlight of the afternoon, wining with an impressive time of 7:08.7, 12 seconds ahead of the second-place squad from MIT.
"This weekend was very exciting for me because this was my first time actually racing," Will Johnson '16 said. "We ended up winning so this was definitely a cool experience."
The Big Green rowers were struck with some bad luck and faced poor course conditions. The 2,000-meter race was contested with a 15-m.p.h. tailwind and moderate chop in the first 1,000 meters that later worsened to a heavy chop with whitecaps.
"We were about to make our move on Columbia and in the last 500 meters of the race the conditions just went to hell. It became very hard to row and we ended up finishing second in our race," Artie Santry '16 said.
Dartmouth faces a disadvantage, especially early in the season, because they have been on the water for less time than their competitors.
"We have only been on the water for two weeks because the river freezes, whereas pretty much every other school has been on the water for six or seven weeks," Santry said. "I feel that we have a much better opportunity to improve because we are four weeks behind, and in those four weeks the learning curve is just huge."
The lightweight team raced two varsity eights, two varsity fours and one freshman eight. The second varsity eight and the leading varsity four both finished second in their races and the freshmen eight came in third. However, thought of as one of the top two boats in the country, the Big Green's first varsity eight didn't disappoint, winning the main event with a time of 5:17.5, ahead of the University of Delaware who took second with 5:20.5. Dartmouth's first varsity eight is coming off a second-place showing at nationals last season and is consistently in contention with Harvard University for the top ranking.
On Saturday, the women's crew team raced two varsity eights and two varsity fours. The second varsity eight and four were both able to pull out victories, with the eight winning by an astounding 20 seconds over URI and Rutgers. However, the first varsity eight and first varsity four were not able to come out on top and finished in second place.
The second day of the opening weekend showed similar results, with two dominating performances by the second varsity eight and four. The first boats struggled through tough conditions, leading to a third-place finish for the first varsity eight and a second-place finish for the first varsity four.
The teams will all return to action next weekend at three regattas. The heavyweight team travels to New Haven, Conn., for the Olympic Axe, the lightweight team is at home competing in the Biglin Bowl and the women's team is heading down to Cambridge, Mass., to face off against Boston University, Yale and Clemson University.
