By TUCKER MAGGIO-HUCEK

The Cornell mens lightweight, heavyweight and womens rowing teams kicked off their fall season in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this past weekend. All three teams competed in the 50th Head of the Charles Regatta that had over 2,200 entries from all different backgrounds.

The mens lightweight team had two boats race on Sunday. The lightweight eights boat, which was led by senior captain Chris Rogers, finished the race in third place behind two Ivy League rivals. The race was extremely competitive, with all three boats finishing within .05 seconds of each other, as Princeton and Harvard edged out Cornell for first and second, respectively.

The eight had a really tight race and put us in a great position for the rest of the season and for winter and spring training, said senior captain Richard Richhart.

The other lightweight boat competed in the fours and had a strong showing, finishing in third behind two international foes. The London Training Center, who won the race, bested the Cornell boat by a large margin but junior Ian Sigal led the boat ahead of all other collegiate entries.

The four truly defined themselves against our League competition. They placed third and were only bested by international competition. Were all really proud of those athletes, Richhart said.

The heavyweights had two boats take to the waters in Massachusetts. In the mens championship fours the Red took seventh place and finished under 40 seconds behind the winners from Camp Randall, a rowing club from Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin finished in sixth place, finishing just over three seconds before the Cornell boat.

In the mens championship eights, the heavyweight boat had a rough outing and finishing in 33rd out of 36 boats, thanks to a pair of collisions and a one minute penalty that was added on to their time. Harvard, Princeton and Yale all placed within the top-ten.

Despite being forced into some difficult situations, the womens boats started their fall season off in fine fashion. In the womens championship eights, the Cornell boat finished in 11th place in a race that included the United States National Team, Cambridge and Oxford.

The varsity eight had a very promising performance. We nearly collided with several boats and had a very exciting race, said senior captain Elyce Buell. Despite this we had a very competitive time compared to the other crews.

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ROWING | Red Competes at 50th Head of Charles Regatta