WORCESTER, Mass. – The Dartmouth women's rowing team saw all six of its boats reach the grand finals, with the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four all finishing fourth overall in a strong field of crews at Women's Eastern Sprints on Sunday at Lake Quinsigamond. In the process, all three of the fourth-place finished ahead of Ivy League foe Columbia, who entered the day ranked higher in the national rankings (19th compared to the Big Green in 21st).
"So proud of the team for coming here and having the best racing in the final," said head coach
John Graves. "That was something we talked about a lot, managing the heat well and then putting a really high onus on recovery. And then, having our best race in the final tough conditions. There was a tough, really strong headwind, but I thought they managed it well, which led to some pretty strong performances."
The Big Green took care of business in the morning heats, with all six crews advancing to grand finals.
In the afternoon, the varsity four came in fourth, posting a time of 8:00.757, which was just over six seconds behind Brown in third.
The second varsity eight then found itself in medal contention as much – also finishing fourth (7:05.012), less than four seconds behind third-place Rutgers (7:01.418).
The day concluded with the varsity eight getting off to a strong start and finding itself in third through the middle stages, but Harvard gradually gained steam to edge the Big Green. Dartmouth's final time was 7:02.697, compared to the Crimson's 6:57.453.
The Big Green return to the water in two weekends at the Ivy League Championship in Camden, N.J.
"Today was a real step forward from last year at Sprints in terms of competitiveness, especially in our NCAA boats (1V, 2V and V4)," said Graves. "It puts us in a really good spot going into Ivys in a couple weeks where we hope to contend for an at-large to NCAAs, which is certainly a conversation the team hasn't been in in a while.
"Psyched about where we are now," Graves continued. "We are excited to get back to work and find more speed leading into Ivies."
Complete Results
Varsity Eight
Heat 3
1. Harvard – 6:51.773
2. Dartmouth – 6:59.997
3. Cornell – 7:07.403
4. Rhode Island – 7:11.571
5. Bucknell – 7:16.515
6. Temple – 7:21.673
Grand Final
1. Rutgers – 6:47.063
2. Brown – 6:54.375
3. Harvard – 6:57.453
4. Dartmouth – 7:02.697
5. Columbia – 7:06.683
6. Michigan State – 7:09.541
Second Varsity Eight
Heat 3
1. Harvard – 6:59.652
2. Dartmouth – 7:05.352
3. Cornell – 7:24.831
4. Boston College – 7:33.333
5. UMass – 7:37.201
6. Temple – 7:49.853
Grand Final
1. Brown – 6:54.238
2. Harvard – 6:59.774
3. Rutgers – 7:01.418
4. Dartmouth – 7:05.012
5. Columbia – 7:13.204
6. Northeastern – 7:13.284
Third Varsity Eight
Heat 2
1. Brown – 7:00.336
2. Dartmouth – 7:14.286
3. Boston University – 7:17.262
4. Boston College – 7:35.824
5. Drexel – 7:46.695
Grand Final
1. Brown – 7:40.056
2. Columbia – 7:45.736
3. Rutgers – 7:48.680
4. Harvard – 8:01.438
5. Michigan State – 8:07.156
6. Dartmouth – 8:13.158
Varsity Four
Heat 2
1. Brown – 7:46.568
2. Dartmouth – 7:51.868
3. Boston College – 8:04.503
4. Michigan State – 8:22.150
5. Bucknell – 8:27.968
6. Temple – 8:37.429
7. Colgate – 8:54.454
Grand Final
1. Rutgers – 7:49.149
2. Harvard – 7:49.218
3. Brown – 7:54.403
4. Dartmouth – 8:00.757
5. Columbia – 8:07.199
6. Boston University – 8:22.611
Second Varsity Four
Heat 2
1. Brown – 7:46.459
2. Dartmouth – 7:59.685
3. Cornell – 8:04.591
4. UMass – 8:22.681
5. Holy Cross – 8:37.168
Grand Final
1. Rutgers – 8:09.034
2. Brown – 8:14.000
3. Harvard – 8:23.251
4. Columbia – 8:27.787
5. Boston University – 8:42.314
6. Dartmouth – 8:53.710
Third Varsity Four
Heat 1
1. Rutgers A – 7:56.321
2. Rutgers B – 8:09.290
3. Dartmouth – 8:25.977
4. Boston University – 8:30.821
5. Holy Cross – 8:56.581
Grand Final
1. Rutgers A – 8:12.430
2. Brown – 8:27.576
3. Columbia – 8:28.390
4. Rutgers B – 8:34.596
5. Dartmouth – 8:50.223
6. Cornell – 8:55.661