Bates rowing teams open successfully vs. MIT, Georgetown, Harvard/Radcliffe

The Bates women's second varsity eight defeated competition from MIT, Georgetown, Radcliffe and Simmons on March 31, 2018. (File photo by Connor Cahill for Bates College)

BOSTON -- The Bates men's and women's rowing teams competed in their first races of the spring season Saturday on the Charles River Basin, to great success.

The No. 1 nationally ranked women's team accumulated an 8-2 mark against Simmons and lightweight crews from Radcliffe, MIT and Georgetown. Meanwhile the Bates men went 5-4 against boats from Harvard, Trinity and Boston College.

The Bates men were outraced only by the Harvard lightweights, but also outpaced Trinity and BC over MV8, M2V8 and M3V8 races. Harvard won the MV8 race over runner-up Bates, 6:17.5 to 6:32.8, with Trinity (6:36.77) and BC (6:38.86) taking third and fourth places. The M2V8 race proved to be the same order of finish, with Harvard winning by over 20 seconds over Bates (6:20.435 to 6:40.496), with Trinity (6:44.708) third and BC (6:48.248) fourth. Bates' M3V8 finished the 2,000-meter course in 7:04.1, trailing two Harvard boats and outpacing BC.

Rowing against Simmons and the MIT lightweight women's crews (MIT is a Division I women's rowing program), the defending NCAA Division III champion Bates women finished a close second to MIT in varsity eights and defeated the competition decisively in W2V8 and W3V8 races.

The MIT lightweight WV8 outpaced Bates 7:35.4 to 7:38.7 over 2,000 meters in a gusting cross headwind, with Simmons third out of three boats in 8:15.9. But in W2V8s, Bates defeated MIT lightweights with the fastest time of the day, 7:23.0 to 7:39.9, with Simmons third (8:01.2). And in W3V8s, Bates defeated MIT lightweights head-to-head 7:59.0 to 8:14.6.

The Bates women additionally raced WV8, W2V8 and W3V8 races with Radcliffe and Georgetown lightweights. Bates' WV8 finished second to Gergetown (7:04.716) but edged Radcliffe 7:20.845 to 7:22.967.

The Bates women also showed great depth in the second two races. In W2V8s, Bates (7:31.401) far outpaced Georgetown (7:40.644) and Radcliffe (7:44.989), and in W3V8s the Bobcats (8:22.0) defeated Radcliffe (8:42.3) by more than 20 seconds.

The Bates rowing teams will compete in Worcester, Mass., on April 8, against host WPI in addition to boats from Clark, Simmons, Mount Holyoke, Pacific Lutheran and Hamilton.

Recap, photo courtesy of Bates College.