Williams Crew Teams Finish Strong in Donahue Cup
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WORCESTER — The Williams women took three first-place finishes and the Donahue Cup title at Lake Quinsigamond, topping several strong crews, including Trinity, Smith, Holy Cross and Simmons, on Saturday.
After initial forecasts promised rain and cold conditions, the team was prepared for the worst, but was pleasantly surprised to race under sunny skies and warmer-than-predicted temperatures. A slight cross tailwind made alignment at the start challenging and choppy conditions in the second 1,000 meters tested the Williams crew, but the team performed well for the third straight weekend to take the Donahue Cup and defeat two Trinity boats.
The 2V boat got the morning started with an exciting race against Trinity, Smith, and Mount Holyoke. After a well-executed start put them in front of the field by a handful of seats, the Williams boat slowly separated themselves from Mount Holyoke and Smith with a competitive Trinity crew still in striking distance.
Williams kept a half-length margin for most of the race, but Trinity made some competitive moves that forced the 2V to respond.
"We rowed a tenacious race," stroke seat Angela Crudele, a senior, said. "They sprinted early so we had to go with them and despite our youth, I think we responded well."
The 2V crossed the line at 6:54, a second and a half ahead of Trinity to take the win.
Following up the success of the 2V, the 3V boat came off the line with their strongest start of the year, getting out ahead of Trinity, Smith, Holy Cross and Mount Holyoke. With 500 meters down, the Williams boat had a length over all their opponents, with Smith giving chase, but made it a length of open water at the 1,000 meter mark and continued to walk away for the second half of the race.
The pace slowed in the second 1,000 meters with no boats close to challenge them, but the Williams boat held its substantial lead and won by 25 seconds, crossing the line in 7:16.3.
The 1V raced in the Donahue Cup event against Simmons, Connecticut College, and host school WPI and emerged with an 18-second victory.
After a rocky start to their race last weekend, the 1V got off the line with a much cleaner start and took a commanding lead, which they held to the finish line.
"We were on our own after 500 meters, but we’ll need to find more power in the end," said coxswain Allison Prevatt, a junior. The 1V finished in 6:59 with Simmons College in second place at 7:17.1. "Regardless, it was an exciting day for the team and for our rankings," she added.
The novice women closed out the racing for the day for the Ephs and took it out with a slight lead on the Simmons A boat, after dropping the Connnecticut College and Simmons B boats early in the race.
After racing through the 1,000-meter mark and retaining their lead, the 1N boat pushed on for the finish, but caught some choppy water in their last 10 strokes, allowing the Simmons boat to slip past them and grab the win by a four-tenths of a second margin. The 1N finished with a time of 7:30.4.
Head coach Justin Moore was pleased with the effort by his athletes this weekend. With Lake Onota under a layer of ice for the past several weeks, finding adequate water to train on has been difficult.
"Despite challenges with finding water and having to drive through three states to get to Buskirk (N.Y.) to practice, we made progress as a team this week," he said. "The 2V raced with a necessary urgency against Trinity and we keep seeing glimpses of what this 1V boat has the potential to be. With a few more weeks of training, I believe they can progress to that level."
Trinity has held the top spot in many ranking polls for the last three weeks, including the CRCA/US Rowing and NERC Coaches Poll. Though the 1V boat did not race Trinity, the success of the 2V and 3V boats is a promising indicator for a strong second half of the spring season.
The women will host Wesleyan and Amherst for the Little Three Championships at Lake Onota in Pittsfield next weekend.
Men place second at Donahue Cup
The men's crew took second place in the Donahue Cup, with the men's 1V placing second and the 2V, 3V and novice boats winning their races. The men experimented with a new race strategy for the 1V and 2V boats and the 3V and novices continued their strong season to win their races by comfortable margins.
In the 1V and 2V boats, the men tested out a new race plan, aiming for a more conservative start, after previous races had left them needing more for the second 1,000 meters of the race.
The 1V boat came off the start line down on MIT and up on WPI. After giving up a margin to MIT in the first 500, it was a fight for the 1V to move back on MIT.
"It was a poor strategy," said head coach Peter Wells. "They got down and didn't have the best race, but still slugged it out at the end."
In a tight finish, the 1V trailed MIT by 2.5 seconds at the finish line to take second place in 6:11.5, with WPI 1.3 seconds behind in third.
The 2V, employing a similar strategy, was down off the start and WPI led them through the first half of the race.
"After being bow to stern at the 1,000 meter mark, we needed to move," said 2V three-seat Mike Sacks, a junior. "We hammered through the third 500 and with 150 to go we were two seats down."
In the final 100 meters of the race, the 2V pulled even and ahead to edge out WPI by two tenths of a second — less than the length of the bow deck — for the win in 6:24.1.
"The 2V had a huge second 1,000 meters," said Wells. "This win was important for them."
In the 3V race, the men took two decisive moves in the first half of the race to pull ahead of WPI.
"Our race was scrappy, but powerful," said Ryan Dunfee, a senior. The men pushed the pace in the second half of the race after separating themselves from WPI and went on to take a six second win in 6:46.8, crossing the line a length and a half up on their opponent.
The novice boat took the final win of the day for the men's crew. After a quick start pulled them ahead of MIT, the men opened up a gap by the 1,000 meter mark and held it to the finish. They crossed the line in 6:24.7 with six seconds and a half a length of open water separating them from second place MIT.
"The wins for the 2V, 3V, and 1N were great for the program," said Wells. "It's great to see the enthusiasm in those boats."
The men will spend the upcoming week preparing for the Little Three Championships, where they will face a powerful Wesleyan crew, that swept all three races at the 2007 Little Three regatta.
The men will host the Little Three Championships next weekend at Lake Onota in Pittsfield.
