Williams College M & W's Crew
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WORCESTER – The Williams women’s crew captured the women’s team points trophy for the third consecutive year and, in combination with the men’s crew, won the Quinsigamond Commission Trophy given to the overall men’s and women’s team points leader, narrowly edging out Trinity College for the overall title. Under cloudy skies with a steady misting rain throughout the day, the women exhibited a tremendous amount of programmatic depth with wins in the 2V, 3V, and novice events. The women’s 1V took second to Trinity in an extremely close race that required consultation of finish line cameras to determine a winner.
In the morning preliminary heats, all four Williams boats posted the fastest times in their races going into the afternoon grand finals. The novice women, seeded second going into the competition, got the racing started early in the morning with a convincing win in their heat. Their time of 7:11.65 was 17 seconds better than the rest of the field and six seconds faster than the #1 ranked Simmons novice boat racing in an earlier heat. Earlier in the year, Williams suffered a loss to the Simmons crew, losing by less than a second on the same course.
The 2V boat, seeded first, followed with a seven second open water victory over Smith in their heat, crossing the line with a time of 7:00.26. Second seeded Trinity, racing in heat two, finished two and a half seconds slower in 7:02 .86 to set up the afternoon showdown between the two perennial powers. The 2V defeated Trinity earlier in the season, but only by a second and a half, less than half a boat length.
In the final set of morning heats where the top two finishers advanced to the grand final, the Williams 1V entered the race ranked second behind Trinity. The Williams boat rowed well in their morning heat, taking a six second win over the second place UNH boat in 6:52.90, the fastest time of the morning. Trinity, racing in an earlier heat, took an easy win over the second place Holy Cross boat with a time of 6:54.62. In the third heat Coast Guard and Bates advanced to the grand final.
The 3V boat took the first win of the day for the Williams women in the grand finals. Only six schools entered women’s third varsity boats, rendering preliminary heats unnecessary. Despite being ranked first in the event, the Williams boat had a shaky first 1,000 meters where they raced several seats down on the Holy Cross crew in lane three. As they crossed the 1,000-meter mark the 3V drew even with Holy Cross and then proceeded to walk through their boat, taking an open water lead into the final 500 meters. Their final time of 7:14.32 was good enough for first place and a seven second victory over second place Holy Cross. Tufts took third, nearly twenty seconds from the lead.
The Williams novice boat toed the line with Simmons, ready to avenge their earlier loss, and got out to an early lead with a considerable margin over the Simmons crew halfway into the race. Coming into the final 500 meters of the race, the Williams boat held at least two lengths of open water and cruised to victory with an extremely competitive time of 7:04.46 that would have placed them second in the women’s second varsity event later in the afternoon. Simmons took second in 7:15.06 with Wellesley College took third. The Trinity women’s novice boat did not advance to the grand final and took second in the petite final to finish in 8th place overall.
In the second varsity grand final, Williams faced Trinity for the second time this season and, as they did before, emerged with a win. This time they wasted no time getting ahead of the field, pulling away early and rowing to a commanding victory, dipping below the seven minute mark, to win in 6:59.44. Trinity followed in second place with a time of 7;08.05 with a tight race for third going on behind them. Holy Cross edged out Smith for the bronze by six-tenths of a second, 6:12.06 to 6:12.56.
The final event of the afternoon, the women’s first varsity grand final, featured rivals Williams and Trinity, racing against each other for the first time this season. Trinity entered the race ranked first, but Williams laid down the faster preliminary heat, leaving spectators eagerly waiting for the grand final. The Williams and Trinity 1V boats separated themselves from the field early and battled for first place for the entire length of the course, frequently trading leads and moves that nudged one bow ahead of the other. Coming into the final 250 meters of the race, it became difficult to discern who held the advantage. Williams and Trinity crossed the line at nearly the same time leaving the spectators and athletes waiting for official word from the referee. The final margin between the boats of .286—less than the length of the bow deck—was enough to put Trinity ahead and take the win in 7:45.97, with Williams in 7:46.26. Though a loss to Trinity is always tough to swallow, the Williams women will have two more chances to take on the Bantams this season at ECACs, and the NCAA Championships.
Williams will return to Lake Quinsigamond for the ECAC National Invitational on May 10 and 11.
Men’s 1v And 3v Crew Take Second To Trinity, Program Wins Overall Points Trophy At New Englands
WORCESTER – The Williams men’s crew took silver medals in the first and third varsity events and the novice men took the gold on their way to second place in the men’s team points trophy standings, behind Trinity. In combination with the women’s team, they also captured the Quinsigamond Commission Trophy for the best overall men’s and women’s team performance, edging out Trinity for the title.
The men’s first varsity boat, seeded second in their race, took a win in their preliminary heat, finishing a second and a half up on Wesleyan and three seconds up on Bates. Their time of 6:02.89 was three seconds slower than the first ranked Trinity boat who won their earlier preliminary heat with a time of 5:59.81. Going into the grand final, Williams lined up against Trinity, WPI, Wesleyan, Bates and Coast Guard. The Williams men took it off the line and kept Trinity in contact for the first half of the race, with Wesleyan and WPI still in the mix. Trinity pulled away in the second half of the race leaving Wesleyan, Williams, WPI racing for second place. Williams narrowly edged Wesleyan out for the silver, finishing in 6:03.60, with Wesleyan taking the bronze with a time of 6:04.20. WPI just missed a trip to the medals dock with a time of 6:04.88.
The men’s second varsity had a tough morning heat, narrowly missing a qualifying spot for the grand final. They finished fifth in their heat in 6:33.36 with U Mass in third taking the final qualifying spot in 6:30.58 and Boston College fourth in 6:32.62. Trinity easily defeated WPI by 10 seconds to win the heat in 6:14.15. In the afternoon petite final, the 2V demonstrated how competitive they are with a tight 1.37 second win over UNH with a time of 6:25.34 to take seventh place overall. In the grand final Trinity took an easy win in 6:08.94, joined by Wesleyan and WPI on the medals dock.
The men’s third varsity and novice boats each went straight to the grand final round with only seven and four boats respectively in their races. The men’s third varsity race came down to the wire in a battle for second with Wesleyan. With 500 meters to go in the race, the Williams men found themselves in third, with Trinity out in front, but only four seats down on Wesleyan. With 400 meters to go, they began to sprint early and got out to a slight lead which they manage to hold until the finish, defeating Wesleyan for the silver, 6:28.23 to 6:28.73. Trinity won the race in 6:12.04.
The men’s novice eight lined up with Trinity, Coast Guard, and URI for their only race of the day. The novice men wasted no time confirming their #1 seeding and moved ahead early to take Trinity by a length of open water with a speedy time of 6:08.89, seven seconds faster than second place Trinity (6:16.48). Their time of 6:08.89 would have just eclipsed the winning time by the Trinity 2V in the second varsity grand final (6:08.94).
The Williams men will return to Lake Quinsigamond in a week to race in the ECAC National Invitational on May 10 and 11.
