Michaela Brew | Sun Staff Photographer

The weekend marked the last day of home racing for both teams' seniors. The men now have their sites on Eastern Sprints, and the women focus on the Ivy League Women's Rowing Championship, both on May 15.

May 1, 2016

Men’s and Women’s Rowing Take Home Titles in Successful Weekend

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The weekend proved successful for Cornell rowing. The men’s heavyweight rowing team swept Penn and Dartmouth, and the women beat Dartmouth in three out of five races.

With the win, the Red reclaimed the Madeira Cup and James Wray Memorial Trophy for the ninth straight season. The races also marked the­­­ last day of home racing for the team’s seniors.

“It was a day of fun racing, and it was special for the seniors since it will be their last home race at Cornell,” said senior captain Creg Davis. “There was a bunch of family and friends out in support which was nice.”

The women’s victory secured the Parent’s Cup for the second year in a row. The victory marked the fifth time in the past six years the team won this award.

Moving forward, the women’s team is now solely focusing on the Ivy League Championship.

“Going into this race our goal was to beat Dartmouth,” Barrett said. “We did, and now our next goal is to try to widen the margin between us and them at the Ivy League championship.”

Similarly, the men’s team has been training hard with their sights on Eastern Sprints, which will take place in two weeks.

“After this weekend’s win, we will see if we move up in the rankings,” Davis said. “If we move up, it will help us get a better lane at the Eastern Sprints which could help us at the championship.”

Senior captain Michael Collela explained this process further.

“Rankings determine seeding order for our conference championships, which plays a large role in your ability to compete in the grand final,” said senior captain Michael Colella. “Hopefully we will move up in the rankings, but all of the crews are ready to have their best race in two weeks to vie for a spot in the finals of the EARC.”

The team will find out their ranking on Thursday. In the meantime, they attribute their successful races to their focus on themselves.

“I think we all just wanted to execute our own race and not worry about anyone else,” Davis said. “Our hard work paid off and each boat got a win. Any time you get a sweep it’s amazing, everyone came together and did their job.”

Colella was not necessarily expecting this outcome due to difficulties in the previous week of training.

“We wanted to win, but we had to focus on taking a positive step forward,” she said. “I couldn’t have told you we were going to sweep, but I am really glad we did.”

The women’s rowing team has a tough task ahead and will use the positive momentum from this weekend to propel them in the right direction.

“This race was definitely a step in the right direction,” Barrett said. “We are happy with our performance, but we know what we can work on in the next two weeks to get faster.

The men’s team is especially content to finish up i­­­­ts last home race on this note.

“We won every race from the varsity to the 4V,” Colella said. “It was amazing for the 15 seniors to finish their last home race with a program-wide victory.”