Women’s Lightweight Crew Opens Strong at Head of the Charles

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – It was a strong start to the 2012-13 crew season for the MIT women's lightweight crew team as the Engineers kicked off the fall portion with a pair of entries in the famous Head of the Charles regatta. On Saturday the team fielded a boat in the Women's Club Fours and then had an entry on Sunday in the Women's Lightweight Eights.  

On Saturday the MIT 4+ team turned in a strong start to the weekend for the Engineers. The team, all five of which were competing in the Head of the Charles for the first time, passed one boat during the race and wound up finishing a solid 26^th out of the 46 competitors, just three spots shy of earning a guaranteed entry for 2013. MIT's time of 20:50.47 was just ahead the Liberty University crew.

In the 8+ race on Sunday the MIT crew turned in an excellent performance in a very competitive field that included some of the top Division I school in the country. The Engineers passed one boat during the race and finished fifth overall out of the seven entries, turning in a time of 17:50.809 to finish ahead of Georgetown and the Radcliffe "B" team and just a second and a half behind Princeton. The Engineers time was just 5.1 percent off the winning time, the closest MIT has been to the winner in the history of the program.

MIT will continue its fall season on Saturday, November 3 when it races at the Dartmouth Green Monster Invitational.