April 17, 2011
BOSTON, Mass. - The No. 2 Stanford Lightweight women's rowing team made a trip to the East Coast this weekend, picking up wins over No. 7 MIT and No. 4 Harvard in Boston.
The Cardinal faced challenging conditions and a shortened course on Saturday as they took on Harvard. High winds and white caps forced the racing onto the 1,400-meter Power House Stretch of the Charles River. Harvard led in the early stages of the race but Stanford's top boat moved back even before the first 500-meter mark. As the race progressed the margin steadily increased to a little over six seconds.
In the II Eight race Harvard and Stanford maintained contact for the first half of the race, eventually Harvard pushed out in the second half to a four-second victory.
Sunday, the Cardinal s took on MIT. Racing into a blustery head wind and white caps the Engineer I Eight rowed stroke-for-stroke with Stanford off the line. However, Stanford managed to take control of the race early on and pushed out to open water by the 1,500-meter mark.
The II Eight race was held in deteriorating conditions. The Cardinal Lights powered to an early lead and never looked back.
"Harvard was great host and we got in some solid racing in tough conditions," commented Stanford lightweight head coach Al Acosta. "We need to continue to work to improve as our national championship is not far off."
The Stanford Lightweights' next race will be the WIRA Championships in Sacramento on April 30th.
Saturday Results
I Eight - Stanford 4:42, Harvard 4:48
II Eight - Harvard 4:55, Stanford 4:59
Sunday Results
I Eight - Stanford 8:19, MIT 9:07
II Eight - Stanford 8:43, MIT 9:31