Yale Athletics

Yale dominated this weekend’s crew races, as all three of the Bulldogs’ crew teams scored big wins.

The weekend began with the heavyweight team facing off against Dartmouth College for the Olympic Axe in a home race at Gilder Boathouse. 

As has often been the case in recent years, the Bulldogs dominated the Big Green, winning four of the five races — including the Varsity 8 — to retain the Olympic Axe, which it has held since the prize was created in 2004. 

“It was a solid race,” said Luca Liautaud ’25, who stroked the 3V. “We focused on keeping things lively and simple and quick. We brought great energy to the warmup, and the race fell into place from there. We’re pretty keen on pushing on and seeing what we can do in the weeks ahead.”

The Varsity 8 defeated the top Dartmouth boat by more than two seconds with a time of 5:26.70. 

Meanwhile, the women’s team turned in an equally dominant performance in Saratoga Springs, New York against Syracuse University and Cornell University. The team won all five races of the day, including a massive 15-second win in the 2V. 

The Elis also secured the Cayuga Cup when the Varsity 8 finished their race in 6:25.621, defeating the top Syracuse boat by more than five seconds and demolishing the Cornell Varsity 8 by nearly 41 seconds.

“All of our crews raced well today,” head coach Will Porter said to Yale Athletics. “There were great conditions for racing. We are slowly making progress with all of our lineups. I’m really proud of the team today.”

The lightweight team put the cap on an excellent weekend when it was their turn to race at Gilder Boathouse. They continued the Bulldogs’ dominance and won all three races against the Georgetown Hoyas.

“I think that Saturday was really exciting,” 3V coxswain Jackie Weyerhaeuser ’25 said. “It was nice to have wins across the board and the team is looking forward to the races to come.”

The Varsity 8 turned in another strong performance to lead the way for the Elis, putting in an impressive 5:35.6 time, leading the Georgetown Varsity 8 time of 5:38.4.

The lightweight team now will turn its focus to its Ivy League races, with hopes to continue their strong start to the spring season. 

“The team is feeling energized after two successful race weekends against the Naval Academy and Georgetown,” Blake Weyerhaeuser ’24 said. “The 1, 2, 3v and 4V have yet to lose a race but the close wins mean we can’t rest easy and must keep pushing to find more speed.”

This weekend, the heavyweight and lightweight teams will both host University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University on the Housatonic River, while the women’s team will travel to Cambridge to face rivals Harvard University.