Men's lightweights finish sixth as Elis charge ahead to victory

The season's struggles continued for the men's lightweight crew team yesterday at the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints yesterday at Lake Quinsigamond near Worcester, Mass.

The Tigers finished sixth overall in the Grand Final in a time of five miuntes, 49.97 seconds. Top-ranked Yale took first place in 5:41.2. Dartmouth, Harvard and Georgetown all finished within two seconds of the front-running Elis. Columbia finished alongside Princeton, well back of the lead pack.

Dueling

The Tigers were seeded fifth in for the finals by virtue of their third-place finish in the first qualifying heat. The top three finishers in each heat advanced, and the Tigers beat Rutgers by more than second to ensure their spot. Columbia, which finished third in the second heat, was the slowest qualifier for the finals, but the Lions picked up the pace to snag fifth.

That Columbia and Princeton would be each others' strongest competition could have been predicted, as the Tigers were ranked No. 5 and the Lions No. 6 entering the weekend. Princeton had won the two teams' previous matchup by just .05 seconds March 31. Georgetown beat both teams that day, but the Hoyas, Tigers and Lions all finished with 2.5 seconds of each other.

Reasons for hope

The second varsity eight had a stronger finish, taking second place. Yale, which was expected to dominate most of the lightweight events, took first in that race as well.

The Elis success was not as overwhelming as predicted, however, thanks to the Princeton freshman and third varsity eights. The freshmen won their Grand Final by over four seconds in 5:48.45, while the third varsity finished first by under half a second. Yale finished second in both races.