Ephs fall to Harvard in Scrimmage, Prevail Against Other Competitors
MEDFORD, Mass. – The Williams College men’s First Varsity Boat fell to Harvard’s 3V in a scrimmage competition. The boat went on to soundly defeat Tulane with a comfortable margin. The Second Varsity boat fell to Harvard’s First Freshman Boat, but edged put Boston College’s Second Varsity squad. A mixed squad consisting of Williams Freshman and 3V competitors fell to Harvard’s Fourth Varsity Boat, only to defeat UVM’s Freshman Boat.“There were tough conditions all around,” said coach Ben Lewis, “travelling until the small hours yesterday AM and off the back of a hard camp.”
Constantly threatened by rain and quartering tailwinds to starboard, Williams College Men’s rowing claimed early successes following defeats to Harvard’s squad. The meandering Malden River was treacherous at the start, especially when Harvard’s 3V lined up next to Williams’ 1V. “The 1V did not row well against Harvard and were hurried and generally too excited. We lost touch around 1150 meters into the race,” said coach Lewis.
“The race was tough.” said Rob Buesing ’09 co-captain and 6-seat of the First Varsity boat. “We never found a good rhythm, the bad conditions and the outside lane hurt us, but it’s good to get a bad performance out of the way early in the season .We found a better rhythm for the race with Tulane.” The Williams boat pulled away by the 1000 meter mark for the win.
The 2V encountered a similar situation with their races. “We got off to a good start, but were soon overpowered by Harvard’s 1F,” commented captain and 5-seat Mike Sacks ’09. He continued to say: “we settled into a 32 stroke rating for the remainder of the piece and focused on technique.” After lunch, the racing resumed. The 2V claimed a well-earned victory over Boston College. “We jumped ahead by a boat length, but the B.C. squad fought back a few times, we ended up winning by around 5-seconds; overall, it was a day of good racing for the 2V.”
The 3V/1F had a “strong race and a good row, we were outmatched by a stronger crew,” said Coach Colin Regan. Following a 42-minute turnover and a lineup change the crew faced UVM’s freshman. “We had overlap at the finish despite having open water by 1000m” said Regan, “we need better spacing over 2000 meters.”
All crews will race again next week in Worcester, Massachusetts against WPI, MIT, and others. There will be no scrimmages. Coach Lewis concludes, “In summary, it was a challenging day but all crews came away with a win and some good lessons learnt.”
Results: http://www.row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=5832100&cat=2
