Dartmouth’s crew teams opened their spring race seasons this Saturday away from Hanover, with the women’s number one boat taking first place. The women drove to Boston to face University of Minnesota and Rutgers University, the men’s lightweight team trekked to Princeton, N.J. where it took on the University of Delaware and the men’s heavyweight team traveled to Overpeck Park, N.J. to compete against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the College of the Holy Cross and Columbia University in the Alumni Cup.
Of the three teams, the Big Green women had the strongest performance, racing on the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass. The first boat took first place in its race, completing the 2,000-meter course in 7:16.0, four seconds faster than Minnesota and nearly 30 seconds ahead of Rutgers.
“We hadn’t raced anyone, we hadn’t been on the water at home, so we were worried about how that would affect us,” Juliet Hollingsworth ’14 said. “We were really proud of our results, still being competitive even though we hadn’t been on the water as long as the other teams.”
The second boat finished in second place with a time of 7:27.8, 4.5 seconds behind Minnesota and nearly 30 ahead of Rutgers.
“I think we’re showing a lot of potential,” Hollingsworth said. “Our results show that we’re right in the mix, right where we want to be, but we definitely have room to improve, and that’s always a good thing.”
The women’s varsity four boat also took second place, but the 20 second margin of defeat cast a shadow on the finish.
Unfavorable weather conditions cancelled the men’s heavyweight team’s afternoon races. All the heavyweight eight boats raced the 2,000-meter course just once in cold, windy conditions that worsened as the day wore on.
The first boat finished with a time of 5:59.0, 3.1 seconds behind Columbia.
“Obviously everyone is disappointed with the loss,” co-captain Stu Maeder ’15 said, “but in terms of where we’ve been at the point in the season in years past, I think it was a really mature race from all the guys.”
The second boat fared slightly better against Columbia than the Big Green’s top eight, rowing the 2,000 meters in 6:29.1, just 0.8 seconds slower than the Lions.
The third boat took second in its heat against Columbia and MIT with a time of 6:42.3, 2.1 seconds below the top time, and the fourth boat claimed first place with a 6:48.9 finish.
The lightweight team saw slightly better weather conditions on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, but could not escape second place.
The first boat finished the 2,000-meter course in 6:33.6, 2.2 seconds behind Delaware, the top boat.
“We’ve been fairly limited on the time we’ve had to practice the year because the river is frozen over,” head coach Sean Healey said. “All things considered, it was a really good race, showed some flashes of potential, and everyone was really happy about how they rowed the race.”
Dartmouth’s second boat could not get in rhythm, visible in the 7:00.7 finish time, 18.6 seconds behind Delaware.
“We went into it with the idea that we want to get out there, see where we’re at, see where we need to improve,” Healey said, a process that will accelerate when the team has more time on the water.
The Big Green’s third boat could not pass the Blue Hens, ending up in third place behind Delaware’s third boat and first freshman boat.
The team was disappointed with the results, Healey said, noting that the athletes were hindered by lack of practice time.
The women’s team, which finished last in the Ivy Championships last year, looks to continue its positive start on Saturday when it faces Yale and Boston University in Derby, Conn.The men’s heavyweight team will also travel to Derby, where it will face Yale in the Olympic Axe. The lightweights will travel to Boston and compete against Harvard University and MIT.
