Yale Athletics

This past weekend was a busy one for Yale’s crews, as all three teams raced to success across the board. Showing off the impressive depth of each team, the Bulldogs won all of their races this weekend. The No. 2 heavyweight team swept No. 8 Dartmouth, holding on to the Olympic Axe, while the No. 2 lightweights also won each of their three races at the Joy Cup against No. 9 Georgetown and No. 12 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The No. 7 women’s crew won all five of its races against Pennsylvania and Dartmouth on Saturday, and then followed that up on Sunday by sweeping its four races against Columbia.

Heavyweight Crew

Yale faced off against Dartmouth at home on the Housatonic River Saturday morning, triumphing in all four races. The first varsity (5:19.1) won by slightly more than eight seconds, finishing in front of the Big Green (5:27.6). This victory ensured that the Olympic Axe, a trophy created in 2004, stays with the Bulldogs for yet another year. The Elis have held the trophy since its inception.

The second varsity eight (5:23.4) edged Dartmouth by more than seven seconds, but the third varsity prevailed by the largest margin, coming in with an impressive time of 5:23.5 to Dartmouth’s 5:39.4. The fourth varsity (5:39.0) narrowly beat Dartmouth (5:40.9) in the 2,000-meter race.

“I’m really happy to get a win in the Varsity,” Tom Digby ’20 said. “The squad is keen to keep developing every man, as the varsity has been competitive for a couple of years, but other boat have not achieved the same results … this year we have a no man left behind kind of attitude. That’s why it was great to see all of the boats cross the line first.”

The Bulldogs next race this weekend against No. 15 Columbia and No. 14 Penn in the Blackwell Cup. It will be Yale’s second and final race at home this spring season.

Lightweight Crew

The Elis hosted Georgetown and MIT this past Saturday, sweeping all three races. The varsity eight won its race with a time of 5:25.3, slightly more than seven seconds ahead of the Hoyas (5:32.5) and more than 15 seconds ahead of the Engineers (5:40.8). The Elis’ win against MIT meant that James C. Joy Cup will continue its prolonged stay in New Haven after 38 consecutive Yale victories.

According to captain Noah Baily ’17, despite the team’s dominance in the past, the team approached the race as any other, knowing that anything could happen on the water and they have to execute each time.

The second varsity finished with a time of 5:33.1, beating both Georgetown (5:42.5) and MIT (5:50.8) by comfortable margins. The third varsity beat the Hoyas by a margin of nearly 10 seconds, winning 5:41.9 to 5:51.4.

“Obviously the goal always is to win the top boat, win the first varsity race,” Baily said. “But the wins that I’m always most proud of are when we get the first varsity, but then we also get the second varsity and also get the third varsity, and that happened these past two weekends.”

The lightweights next race this weekend at the Dodge Cup against Columbia and Penn.

Women’s Crew

The Bulldogs continued with their winning ways on this two-day weekend, sweeping all nine races in which they competed.

The Elis faced off in five races against Penn and Dartmouth on Saturday morning, winning each race by at least seven seconds. The varsity eight won the two-kilometer race with a time of 5:59.9, finishing comfortably ahead of Penn (6:11.4) and Dartmouth (6:14.6).

According to captain Kate O’Brien ’17, the crews effectively navigated the fast conditions on the Housatonic River created by a slight tail current.

The Bulldogs’ second varsity cruised to a time of 6:03.4, finishing an even seven seconds ahead of Penn (6:10.4) and more than 16 seconds ahead of Dartmouth (6:29.7). The third varsity eight, which raced only against the Big Green, dominated with a margin of victory of more than 26 seconds.

Both four-person crews won comfortably as well.

Yale followed Saturday’s sweep with another on Sunday against Columbia. The varsity eight raced to a more than 15-second win, finishing with a time of 6:00.4 to the Lions’ 6:15.7. The second varsity eight won by a similarly large margin, completing the course in 6:05.0, about 19 seconds ahead of Columbia (6:24.1). The varsity four won the day’s closest race by more than nine seconds, finishing with a time of 6:47.2 to the Lions’ 6:56.7. The second varsity four finished more than 19 seconds ahead of Columbia.

“We are doing a good job on building on every race towards the next performance and I think that is serving us well,” O’Brien said.

That next performance will come for the Elis on April 15 against No. 8 Princeton.