Technically, the men's crew had a race against Dartmouth Saturday on the Seekonk River. But the three Brown boats, including the No. 4 varsity eight, dismantled the struggling Dartmouth crew, making what should have been a day of races look more like a glorified practice.
All three of Head Coach Paul Cooke '89's boats won by at least 23 seconds. The varsity eight finished in a time of 5:30.11, well ahead of the Big Green's 5:53.89. The junior varsity won by 23 seconds, 5:47.52 to 6:11.00. The freshman boat had the largest margin of victory at 24 seconds, 5:56.94 to 6:21.08.
Despite entering the match-up nearly assured a victory, the Bears took advantage of the opportunity to tune up before facing No. 1 Princeton in New Jersey Saturday.
"Whatever happened with Dartmouth this weekend, it was going to be our last race before Princeton," said co-captain Dave Coughlin '07. "It was our last chance to put everything out there."
Now, the team can focus on its showdown with the top-ranked Tigers in New Jersey. Not to be intimidated, the varsity boat plans to use its usual strategy.
"The way our team races is that we go until the other team cracks," said Colin Keogh '08. "Our strategy (against Princeton) is to just be tougher than they are and wait for them to crack."
On a roll since upsetting Harvard two weeks ago, the varsity boat has plenty of momentum.
"There's a lot of excitement for sure," Coughlin said. "It feels like we're pretty dangerous (entering this race)."
