Engineers Impress at EARC Eastern Sprints

WORCESTER, Mass. – Racing on Lake Quinsigamond in the EARC Eastern Sprints, the MIT men's lightweight crew team turned in several fine performances against Division I foes on Sunday morning. The Engineers were sixth in the varsity eight grand final, first in the second varsity eight petite final, and third in the third varsity eight petite final.

In an incredibly tight heat of the varsity eight, MIT nipped the University of Pennsylvania, 5:44.400 – 5:45.229, to finish third and claim the last spot for the grand final. Columbia won the race in 5:41.856 with Princeton coming in next at 5:43.956. Returning to the water for the grand final, the Engineers finished in sixth place with a time of 5:51.248 as Cornell came away with the title by logging a time of 5:40.683.

MIT's second varsity eight edged out Dartmouth College by .025 seconds to win the petite final in 6:04.803. The Engineers began their day by placing fourth in their heat with a time of 5:59.208. Cornell crossed the line 10 seconds earlier to finish first, followed by Yale (5:51.300) and Navy (5:51.756).

In one of the earliest races of the day, the third varsity eight edged out Dartmouth by four tenths of a second to finish fifth in its heat with a time of 6:06.777. Cornell claimed a two-second victory (5:51.730) over Navy while Yale was third in 5:59.407. Moving on to the petite final, MIT generated a comfortable third-place finish as it crossed the line in 6:19.807, nine seconds ahead of Georgetown. Columbia captured the win (6:10.014) while Dartmouth was the runner-up with 6:15.203 on the clock.

The Cardinal and Gray looks to continue its postseason at the IRA National Championship to be held May 29-31 at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

Varsity 8+
Cox: Ali Finkelstein
8: Tom Altmann
7: Mycal Tucker
6: Lee Mount
5: Luke Koblan
4: Ijan Zhakiya
3: Chris Schlaepfer
2: Peter Augusciak
1: Christopher Knapp