Men's crew places second at Donahue Cup
WORCESTER, MA – 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
men’s 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 ’09.
“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,” remarked Ryan Dunfee ’08.
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,” added Coach 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, MA.
