Big Green Qualify for Championship with Second Place Finish in Eastern Semifinal

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - In second place at the conclusion of the Eastern semifinal of the ICSA Open Fleet Race National Championship, the Big Green have qualified for the national championship to begin racing Sunday.

The Big Green and the remaining top eight teams from the eastern semifinal will combine with the top nine teams from the western semifinal for two days of championship racing to determine the Open Fleet Race National Championship.

After remaining at the top of the pack through most of day one of semifinal racing, the Big Green carried momentum into day two, putting up only 59 points across both divisions on Saturday to sit in second place. Dartmouth finished with 195 total points, 97 in the A Division for the best score and 98 in the B Division. Its 195 points had Dartmouth only two points behind first place Harvard and nine points above third place Stanford.

Despite sitting in third place at the conclusion of day 1 of racing, the Big Green battled back, moving back into first place through the middle eight races of the day. A third-place finish in the twelfth B Division race set the Big Green up for success as they moved on to collect six top-five finishes over the next eight races including three first-place finishes, two of which were back-to-back.

The Big Green held a seven-point lead over the Crimson following the 16^th set of races, but a lower finish propelled the Crimson ahead as they took a six-point lead over the Big Green.

Two third place finishes to close out the day though brought the Big Green within striking distance as they wrapped up the day in second place to qualify for the championship racing.

The Western Semifinal is led by Roger Williams who scored 92 A Division points and a regatta best 72 B Division points to lead with 164 total points. Fellow Ivy League's Yale and Brown close out the top 3 with 186 and 202 points respectively. Yale's 83 total B Division points is good for second best behind only Roger Williams while Brown's 85 A Division points is the best in the Western Division.

The top nine Eastern Division teams, including the Big Green, and top nine Western Division teams will now combine for two days of championship racing on the Charles River. At the conclusion of the second day of racing on Monday, an Open Fleet Race National Champion will be crowned.

Schedules