HEAVYWEIGHT CREW | Elis win three, but lose Blackwell Cup 4.20.09
Saturday’s race against Columbia was one of mixed success for the Yale heavyweight crew.
Saturday’s race against Columbia was one of mixed success for the Yale heavyweight crew.
The Yale Heavyweight Crew won its first race of the season against Dartmouth on Saturday, keeping the Olympic Axe at the Gilder Boathouse for another year.
The Yale men’s heavyweight crew competed last weekend in the Copley Cup race in San Diego, Calif., with a second place finish to Syracuse in the petite final of the Collegiate Varsity Invitational.
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.
The men’s heavyweight crew team has had a tough season so far. With a solid victory over Dartmouth on April 12, the Bulldogs retained the Olympic Axe, but the crew has since handed over two trophies that have adorned the Gilder Boathouse for at least a year.
Men’s heavyweight crew could not carry last week’s success at the Olympic Axe into the Blackwell Cup this weekend.
In its fifth year of competition, the Olympic Axe trophy has not yet left the Gilder Boathouse. The men’s heavyweight crew team ensured that the Axe would not make the nearly 200-mile trek to Hanover, N.H. as the Elis swept the Big Green this Saturday.
The men's heavyweight freshman eight topped Brown by a slim 1.59 seconds, while one of the two fours grabbed a 13.6-second victory. The second split-squad freshman boat came in third to a Brown boat and its Yale teammates.
This weekend, aggression and mixing it up were key for Yale’s crew teams.
Last week, it was the Olympic Axe. This week, it’s the Blackwell Cup.