Boston’s Charles River Basin played host to a battle between two new men’s lightweight rowing coaches who were each vying to make his mark on the Ivy League.
After Penn coach Nick Baker got off to a solid start last week with wins over Delaware and Marietta, it was Dartmouth coach Dan Roock who came out on top Saturday.
No. 8 Penn and the No. 11 Big Green took two first-place finishes apiece, but a superior finish in the varsity eight race help Dartmouth carry the day, with the Quakers placing second, ahead of No. 12 MIT.
“Dartmouth was a very sharp crew, especially considering this early in the season,” Baker said. “They, without a doubt, outperformed us.”
While he was largely dissatisfied with his team’s performance as a whole, Baker said Penn’s victory in the second varsity race was the highlight of the day.
“Our race was a battle from the first stroke,” Penn captain David Mannion, who rowed in the No. 2 seat, said. “We were never down, but we were never up by more than six seats, and we finished about three seats up against Dartmouth.”
Mannion attributed the victory to some handy advice from his coach.
“[Dartmouth] rowed longer than us, and they had a little bit better rhythm,” the senior said. “Coach [Baker] told us we had to row longer before we started, and it helped.”
Meanwhile, Roock, who previously coached men’s heavyweight at Cornell for 12 years, considered his team lucky to emerge with the overall win.
“I thought [my] crew was doing a nice job in their training, but there’s always a question of how well things happen when you’re actually racing,” he said.
Although MIT finished a distant third in the overall standings, there were still a couple of bright spots for the Engineers.
MIT took the novice eight event in what Roock called the “surprise” of the morning. They also gave the Quakers a fright in the third varsity four-plus, trailing the Penn B boat by only a tenth of a second.
While Baker feels his rowers have gotten over their “first race jitters,” he knows they will need to improve their performances if they hope to recover from Dartmouth’s upset.
“We didn’t have our best row, but that’s not the reason we lost the race,” Baker said. “We didn’t race to Dartmouth’s level this morning.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.