Saturday spelled two more victories for the Y150 crew as the Elis destroyed Dartmouth for the Durand Cup in the morning and conquered No. 6 Cornell in the afternoon.
Beginning the day with a clean sweep in the morning races against No. 7 Dartmouth, the No. 3 men’s lightweight team’s varsity eight won by a wide margin of 6.7 seconds, 5:41.4 to 5:48.1. The Bulldogs second varsity also handily beat the Big Green, 6:04.0 to 6:15.9 — a margin of 11.9 seconds. Both parts of Yale’s varsity four also claimed margins of more than 10 seconds, 7:01.8 to 7.07.7 to Dartmouth’s 7.18.6. The first freshman race saw a closer time, 6:08.8 to 6:10.6. Finally, the second freshman boat closed the day with a margin of 5.9 seconds, 6:43.9 to 6:49.8.
Head coach Andy Card said of the Dartmouth race that there was still work to be done.
“Win or lose, it’s another opportunity to go down the course and learn something more,” he said. “We still have yet to put together a race with which we are satisfied.”
The Bulldogs also performed well in the afternoon race against defending national champion Cornell, with the varsity eight winning by a narrow margin of 1.5 seconds, 5:41.2 to 5:43.7. The second varsity eight won by a larger margin of 3.1 seconds—5:51.8 to 5:54.9. And in the third varsity race, the Bulldogs rounded out with 5:54.2 to 5:57.9.
“The racing this weekend gave us the chance to put together a lot of the things we have been working on at practice all week,” captain Daniel Ensslen ’09 said. “It’s always good when the team comes out on top, but we still have a lot of work to do before we race Harvard and Princeton next weekend.”
The freshmen saw losses for the Elis, with the second freshmen losing by a large margin of 26.1 seconds — 6:11.8 to 6:37.9, and the first freshmen losing by a margin of 2.5 seconds, 5:51.8 to 5:54.3.
Card especially praised the first freshman boat.
“The first freshman race against Cornell was a barn-burner and a courageous effort on the part of both crews,” he said. “There was some damage to the Yale shell prior to the race, which resulted in a postponement while the shell was repaired. Credit to both crews for having a cracker of a race despite the delay.”
Card said that the conditions of the race were not a factor, with a flat river and slight wind out at the Gilder Boathouse.
Looking to next week’s H-Y-P race, Card said all predictions were out the window.
“It’s the best collegiate regatta in the States, and you can quote me on that,” he said. “One of the reasons is that all five crews in the regatta have a contribution to make towards the Vogel Cup, the team points trophy. It shows how much the Yale alums who donated the Cup value all the competitors.”