The Dartmouth crew teams had a busy weekend, traveling to Ithaca and Seattle to compete on the water. Dartmouth's heavyweight crew team rowed in the 27th annual Windermere Cup on Saturday, a prestigious race hosted by the University of Washington on the Montlake Cut in Seattle. Fellow Ivy League competitor Cornell University joined the Big Green at the race.
The Big Green's first varsity eight took third in the Windermere Cup, while the second varsity eight took fourth in the Erickson Cascade Cup, also held in Seattle. In that race, the Big Green was edged out by the boat from Oregon State University, which crossed the line in 6:15.6 and narrowly beat Dartmouth's 6:16.5 finish.
In the Windermere Cup, Washington had absolute advantage, taking first for the seventh consecutive year with a time of 5:45.0. Cornell finished second in the race with a 5:57.1, while the Big Green took third in 6:03.7.
"It was really cool to race in Seattle," Robert Moffitt '16 said. "There were more than 50,000 people watching our race. It was nerve-racking, but also incredible to know that so many people were watching."
The Big Green sent their third and fourth heavyweight boats to Ithaca to race against Cornell in the Baggaley Bowl. Racing conditions were decent in Ithaca, with relatively flat water but a rough five miles-per-hour tailwind at the end of the race. The Big Red took the title there, winning the varsity eight race for the first time in two years with a 5:51.3, only a few seconds ahead of the Big Green's 5:55.1.
In the second varsity boat race, Cornell's second and third boats took the first two spots in 5:51.9 and 5:57.7. Dartmouth finished third in 6:03.4, and the Big Green's third boat of freshmen took runners-up honors with a time of 6:51.0.
"We had some tough races yesterday," Arthur Santry '16 said. "The team was split between Seattle and Ithaca. Both Washington and Cornell are known to be good teams, so we knew going in that these would be challenging races."
The women's crew team joined the men in both locations, with the first and second varsity boats traveling to the West Coast, taking third place in both cups. Washington again swept both competitions, with a first-place finish in the Windermere Cup of 6:34.6 to the Big Green's third-place time of 6:57.3. The lady Huskies completed the Erickson Cup in 6:55.3, beating Cornell's 7:06.3 and Dartmouth's 7:08.9.
In Ithaca, the Big Red beat the Big Green by two seconds, crossing the finish line with a 7:38.6. Syracuse University won the second varsity four and third varsity eight races, with Dartmouth taking third in both events.
"While we lost the race this past weekend, we were as close as we ever have been to taking first place in this boat this season," rower Kate Hamilton '16 said. "We are gaining speed and confidence going into the Ivy League Championship in two weeks, and are absolutely looking to defeat Cornell there."
All the crew teams had a very competitive weekend, faced with challenging opponents. The Big Green plans to keep gaining confidence and speed on the water to have a strong finish to their season.
"While this past weekend was not our strongest performance, we are looking forward to racing [Cornell] again later in the season," Santry said.
The men's heavyweight team heads to Syracuse, N.Y., next weekend for the Packard Cup, while the lightweight team will travel to Worcester, Mass., for the Eastern Sprints. The women will not race again until the May 19 Ivy League Championships in Camden, N.J.
