Fresh off its first head-to-head meeting with Harvard in 49 years, the men’s heavyweight rowing team will look to get back to its winning ways this weekend at the George Washington Invitational. Cornell will send three boats to the regatta instead of the usual five: the first and second varsity, and the first freshman crew. All three are in for a marathon weekend, as the Red will compete in three races over the span of two days

More than 1,500 spectators were in attendance this past Saturday at the Quadricentennial Poughkeepsie Regatta, hosted by Marist College. Among the participants at the competition were Ivy League members Penn and Columbia, as well as Division I teams Navy and Army. The Red, however, drew most of the attention at Poughkeepsie by winning three medals in as many events.

All three rowing teams had successful weekends, as the Red was able to overpower its opponents in most events.

The heavyweight crew won the Goes Trophy by trouncing Syracuse and Army on Onondaga Lake in the all-important varsity-8 race. The Red also picked up the Stagg Cup for winning four of the five races held on the lake.

The heavyweights have been dominant in the last two weekends. Saturday marked the first time that the Red had lost a race since the fall season. However, the team will have a much tougher test next weekend as it returns to Ithaca for a head-to-head matchup with Princeton and Yale.

The rowing teams will pack up their boats and part ways tomorrow as they continue to pull through April and steer toward warmer days. The heavyweight men’s crews ride to Syracuse, where they will race host Syracuse and Navy in hopes of recovering the Goes Trophy from the Orange. More extensive travel plans are in store for the lightweight men, who will make the trek to Boston for a morning engagement with MIT and Columbia on the Charles River before a second road trip south to Connecticut for a 4:30 p.m. race versus Yale. The women’s team will compete for the Raritan Cup in one of five races scheduled against host Penn and Rutgers.

The first meet of this year’s rowing season could not have started out much better for both Cornell squads. The season premiere coincided with one of the most beautiful days of the year so far and both teams capitalized on the encouraging weather. The men grabbed victories in all five races, while the women earned wins in four of the five contests.Ants on a log: The men’s crew teams started out their spring season in grand fashion Saturday afternoon, sweeping their events at the Ithaca College Invite.

The Ithaca College Invitational on Saturday marks the first race of the semester for both the men’s and women’s rowing teams. After intense training during their midseason break, the teams hope to start off the spring season strong and will use this race as an indicator of where the crews stand since their last meet in the fall.

Four schools will be competing in both the men’s and women’s races. The men will face Ithaca College, Marist and Hobart College and the women will go up against Ithaca College, Marist and William Smith College.

No team ever enters a competition without the intention of winning. Often, however, a non-victory can provide a lot more information about the team’s standing and help to narrow the focus of upcoming training. This weekend was an informative one for all of the Cornell rowing teams, as the men’s varsity heavyweight eight took fourth, the men’s lightweight eight fifth, and the women’s eight 17th at the Princeton Chase regatta.

The heavyweight eight’s fourth-place finish was out of a forty-team field and only 10 seconds behind winner Yale.