Yale men’s heavyweight crew placed ninth and 18th in the first round of the Princeton 3-Mile Chase to close the fall leg of its season. In the second round of rowing, Yale’s lead boat jumped two positions to seventh place, while the B boat did not start.

Yale’s A boat finished almost 30 seconds behind first-round regatta winner Dartmouth, who completed the 2.75 miles in just under 13 minutes. The Big Green’s A boat won both races on Sunday, and Princeton’s lead boat finished in second both times. Yale’s two eight-person boats consisted of the fourth and fifth varsity crews.

“The team’s overall performance was good,” head coach Steve Gladstone said. “Racing in the fall’s primary focus is working on individual’s technique … we do an awful lot of work in the fall to improve endurance for the spring. But at the end of the day, a race is a race.”

Most of the rowers who competed in Princeton did not get the chance to participate in the Head of the Charles race a week ago in Boston. The competition in the Garden State was the last of three meets for Yale’s heavyweight crew team this fall. All three competitions were head races.

This weekend’s event at Princeton was a head race with boats not racing side by side but rather starting in intervals of 15 seconds. Teams win on the merit of how fast they can complete the course. These competitions are longer than the traditional dual races that the Bulldogs will be participating in the spring.

This year’s Princeton Chase also consisted of a change in format from one to two identical races with the same players on the same course. Last year, the heavyweight Bulldogs finished in eighth place at Lake Carnegie in New Jersey.

52 boats registered to compete in the first round and 26 crews competed in the second round. The weather was far from ideal for the rowers with rain bearing down throughout the day. The first race started at 9 a.m. and Yale’s boats were the fifth and 22nd bows. The second race started at 10:45 a.m. and the Eli boats were given the 149th and 157th starts for the day.

Besides men’s heavyweight, the Princeton Chase simultaneously held competitions for lightweight women, open women and lightweight men. Yale’s women’s team and men’s lightweight crew did not compete in the event — they already concluded their seasons last week at the Head of the Charles.

The Princeton 3-Mile Chase has grown over the years since the first edition in 2008. This year, the Princeton University crew coaching staff had to limit the number of entries to collegiate teams listed as “guaranteed entries” and then would open up available spots to rowing clubs. This year however, the men’s heavyweight competition consisted of collegiate teams entirely.

The Elis return to competition for the Albert Cup dual race against Brown on Saturday, March 28.

Eugenio Garza Garcia | eugenio.garzagarcia@yale.edu