While the varsity heavyweights and lightweights settled for mediocre finishes this past weekend at EARC Sprints, the same could not be said for the Quakers' freshman eight boats.
The novice eights secured fourth place in the Grand Finals of both the heavyweight and lightweight events, earning each team a fourth-place overall finish among the nation's elite freshman boats.
The second heavyweight freshman eight had an impressive finish as well, placing second in its Grand Final behind event-leading Brown.
"It's really great that the freshman were able to perform the way they did -- they really brought out the winning attitude against some tough competition," sophomore lightweight rower Tim Mahoney said.
This winning attitude was manifested by three victories during the spring sprint season. The novice lightweight eight took first in the Wood-Hammond trophy, defeating Georgetown and Princeton, three weeks ago.
The Quaker freshman also took the top prize at the Dodge Cup against Yale and Columbia, as well as in the Lev-Brett Cup against Rutgers.
"The novice eight is very encouraging, because we're losing some rowers this year for graduation and they'll be the ones to step up," Mahoney said.
The Quakers will lose several key players for next year, including senior captains Bowen Posner and Mark Albert and commodore Justin Arena. The trio has been a staple for the lightweight varsity eight over the past four years.
Junior Mike King and Sean Luhks will be expected to help guide the young but talented freshman class into varsity competition next year.
"It will be tough losing the leadership that Bowen and Mark represented," Mahoney said. But with such a strong class coming in to mix with our group already, we should be even stronger next year."
