The Yale men’s heavyweight crew team wrapped up its fall season at the Foot of the Charles in Boston on Nov. 23 in a field of six competitors, including Ivy rivals Harvard and Brown. Temperatures were below freezing, but the rowers did not pay too much attention to the cold. Expectations were high, as the team was well-prepared.

“We had several good practices going into the regatta,” head coach John Pescatore said.

The Bulldogs, unfortunately, came up short. The varsity fours earned the 12th, 17th, 26th and 32nd places. Yale B took 12th place with a time of 13:19.1. Yale A finished 17th at 13:30.6 while D came in about 15 seconds later, taking 26th. Ending up with a time of 14:18.6, Yale C received 32nd place after colliding with another boat.

“We were really unhappy with the results of the varsity crew,” Pescatore said.

But he also added that the freshmen stood out with a good performance in what was their second collegiate race. The freshman eight placed second, behind Harvard and ahead of Brown. They clocked a time of 12:27.5, finishing 6.7 seconds ahead of Brown and 4.7 behind Harvard. Harvard’s eight, incidentally, is the only crew Yale’s freshman eight has lost against. At the Princeton Chase, Yale defeated every other Ivy League crew.

“Good results for the freshmen,” captain Andy Collard ’09 said. “They’re putting in the time. It’s good to see that result for them.”

The Foot of the Charles marked the end of the fall season and the beginning of winter training for the Bulldogs. Heavyweight crew looks to move productively from their last race to prepare for the more important spring season. Putting their varsity boat’s disappointing performance into perspective, Pescatore said last Sunday’s regatta will serve as extra motivation going into the offseason.

“I think that we had a productive fall,” Collard said. “We had some mixed results, but hopefully we can build on our hard work in the spring.”

The freshmen will also be working hard to get ready for spring in winter training, inspired by their favorable results. The Bulldogs, weather permitting, will hit the water again on March 7 to kick off spring training. Their first race takes place on March 28 against Brown in Providence, R.I.