April 5, 2008

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Bulldogs' varsity eight turned heads on day one of racing at the San Diego Crew Classic Regatta. After last weekend's tough loss to Brown, Yale responded with a strong second-place finish in the qualifying heats. The Bulldogs came in just .31 seconds behind powerhouse Cal. In third place and .47 seconds behind Yale came Northeastern. Ivy League rivals Princeton and Penn came in fourth and fifth, respectively. Purdue rounded out the field in sixth place.

In the other qualifying heat, Washington posted the fastest time by an impressive margin of 5.22 seconds. Rounding out the top three were Harvard and Stanford. Yale's varsity boat posted the third fastest time, behind Washington and Cal, setting up what will be a fiercely competitive final on Sunday. In the final on Sunday, in lane order, are Washington, Cal, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Northeastern and Princeton.

Men's Collegiate Varsity Prelims
Saturday, Apr. 5, 2008

Prelim A
1 Washington 5:41.60
2 Harvard 5:46.82
3 Stanford 5:48.07
4 Syracuse 5:51.17
5 OSU 5:56.17
6 UCSD 6:01.60
7 Colgate 6:12.07

Prelim B
1 California 5:45.40
2 Yale 5:45.71
3 Northeastern 5:46.18
4 Princeton 5:47.81
5 Pennsylvania 5:57.15
6 Purdue 6:03.78

The grand final will take place on Apr. 6 at 9.15 a.m. (PST). Live video coverage of the races can be found on www.crewclassic.org/video.

Report filed by Dominique Fenton '10, Yale Sports Publicity