The Yale women’s crew capped off an impressive fall with another strong performance at the Princeton 3-Mile Chase on Lake Carnegie, rowing into third place for the second year in a row.

The Bulldogs’ varsity eight only finished behind University of Virginia and Brown, tailing UVA by under two seconds. Their time of 14:23.181 was eight seconds faster than fourth-place finisher Princeton. The Elis’ second boat also raced well, placing in sixth with a time of 14:42.137, edged by Duke’s varsity shell by under three-tenths of a second. Yale’s third and fourth boats finished 19th and 30th in the 60-boat field.

“Sunday was a day of mixed results for us,” captain Kate O’Brien ’17 said. “We hold ourselves to a very high standard, so we know that we have a lot of room to improve based on the Chase’s results.”

All of the Bulldogs’ boats placed within the top half of the spread. The Elis’ varsity shell came ahead of four Ivy League teams: Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth and Cornell. Yale B rowed across the line as the fastest second varsity boat, beating out fifteen varsity shells and resoundingly outpacing UVA’s B boat by 10 seconds.

Behind them, Yale’s third boat was similarly near the top of all C boats with a time of 15:24.892, placing behind only Brown C. Rounding out Yale’s squad was the fourth varsity boat, which finished with a time of 15:43.285. Only six schools decided to row four boats, and the Bulldogs’ placed second out of D boats.

“Our team depth is solid,” head coach Will Porter said. “We are just getting started, but so far, so good.”

The Princeton Chase is formatted as a timed event, with each boat taking off at staggered starts. The order of the crews is determined by last year’s finish, meaning the Bulldogs started third.

The Elis have also rowed at the Head of the Charles and the Head of the Housatonic earlier this fall. At the Housatonic, Yale finished second overall and placed four boats within the top 16 finishers to kick off the year. Last weekend at the Charles, the varsity eight was the fastest collegiate team, finishing third overall behind two club teams that featured Olympic rowers.

“Overall, I think we can be proud of our fall racing season,” O’Brien said. “In terms of results, I think we have had one of the best fall seasons in years.”

Yale will resume its competitive season in the spring.

BRIAN YEO