It was a mixed bag for the women’s and men’s heavyweight crews this weekend as they battled Syracuse, Yale, and Georgetown.
In their second races of the season, the men sailed past the Hoyas, winning each of its four races.
“We went in with the notion that it would be a dogfight from start to finish,” said senior commodore Ken Davies.
In the freshmen eights, Cornell’s two boats took first and third, sandwiching the lone Hoya boat between them.
The second and third varsities absolutely dominated Georgetown, demonstrating the depth of the Cornell heavyweight program this year. The Hoyas’, whose second varsity time was a full 34 seconds off its first varsity’s, provided little competition for the Red outside of the varsity race.
However, Georgetown’s efforts were not enough to take the first varsity race, and Cornell squeezed out another win, besting Georgetown by just over three seconds. The heavyweights came out to an early lead, leaving the Hoyas to give a courageous chase from behind.
“We had a good race,” said Davies. “It was better than last week because it showed we have something to build on. Last week we had a good first half and won just by holding on for the second half. This week we put together a more solid piece from start to finish,” Davies added.
The heavyweights will have a break from racing this weekend and return to Cayuga Inlet the following weekend to host Navy and Syracuse.
This weekend the women encountered a combination of victory and defeat against hard-hitting Yale and Syracuse.
The first varsity took third with a time of 6:18 behind Yale (6:05) and Syracuse (6:11).
“I think that the varsity could have done better,” said head coach Melanie Onufrieff, “but they did what they could the whole way through. They put in effort all the way down the race course.”
The second varsity race was much closer, but fatigue and rough water conditions took their toll on Cornell as the boat caught a crab in the final strokes of the race. The final results placed the women third, just three seconds shy of the winning time.
The third varsity divided up into two fours for the first time this season, with promising results. The first and second varsity fours both toppled their opponents, posting times of 7:25 and 7:18, respectively.
“It was their first week in the fours and the boats did a great job,” said Onufrieff. “They got out in front and commanded the races,” she added.
The second freshmen boat added one more item to the women’s list of achievements, coming out on top of Yale and Syracuse with a time of 7:12.
Next weekend the women will head to Boston to challenge Princeton and Radcliff.
Archived article by Meredith Long