PHOTOS thanks to Brian Johnson; Harry in 5 seat. The Olympic Axe won by Yale Varsity .

‘Junior Varsity’ has best time of the day…

(Coach)Gladstone moved  3 rowers from the line-up in the Varsity eight, he put up against Brown, a fortnight ago . Harry Simperingham; 3-seat (graduating year 2013) moved to 5-seat in the 2V for the Yale v Dartmouth regatta. The captain- Derek Johnston; Varsity 2-seat (2011) and Varsity stroke ; Spyridon Mastroyannis (2011) were also moved down to the 2V (or is that sideways?). Harry was pleased they won their 2V race in a faster time than the Varsity race.

“There was a slight head wind for the Varsity race” he said, “yet unlikely that would account for all of the  4 seconds faster speed in the 2V“.

 Grant Stagelmann (2013)  took Harry’s place in the Varsity . Stagelmann is the same height as Simperingham at 6’7. Victor Romanov (2013), Nate Reeve (2011), were the other rowers moving up to the Varsity from the 2V line-up at the Brown v Yale regatta.

Harry is working towards being the Varsity for the ‘Eastern sprints’ on May 15^th.  We can expect the Varsity lineup, by then, to be staying constant and ready for the ‘Yale v Harvard’ race-

May 28th and then the ‘IRA’ (Inter-Collegiate Rowing  Assoc National Champs); June 2,3,4 ..Simperingham is home on June 7 for the USA Summer break ..

SHIFTING ROWERS

Name                                                      Cl.           Ht.           Wt.          Hometown/High School

Derek Johnson                       Sr.           6-2           195          Hillsborough, Calif. /

St. Ignatius

Spyridon Mastroyannis         Sr.           6-2           175          Washington, D.C. /

St. Albans

Nathaniel Reeve                     Sr.           6-6           195          Concord, Mass. /

Groton

Viktor Romanov                     So.          6-2           205          Moscow, Russia /

Lowell

Harry Simperingham             So.          6-6           210          Rotorua, New Zealand /

Rotorua Boys' High School

Grant Stegelmann                  So.          6-6           193          Darien, Conn. /

Deerfield 

………………… Report filed by Yale Sports Publicity  http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-crewhvy/index ...............

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale heavyweight crew team rowed its home opener in style Saturday as all five of its crews defeated the Dartmouth Big Green.  The conditions on the Housatonic were near perfect during the freshman race as the Yale Class of 2014 tasted victory for the first time and the Yale varsity eight had a five second victory over the Big Green to capture the Olympic Axe.

After a 20-minute delay to let the morning fog roll through, racing began with the third varsity eight.  Yale started down six seats because it had the inside lane, but the Bulldogs had their bow in front before the first 20 strokes were through.  Yale had open water by the 500-meter mark and walked it up even further around the inside of the turn.  Yale won in a time of 6:01.6 to Dartmouth's 6:14.1. 

Dartmouth had its most inspired race in the freshman eight event.  The Big Green outpaced Yale at the start, hitting a 39 stroke rate to Yale's 37.  At the halfway point only about three or four seats separated the two crews, but with favor to Yale.  Yale stepped out slowly but surely, and with a five-seat lead heading into the last 500 the Bulldogs really turned it on.  Yale won in 6:01.6, a length ahead of Dartmouth in 6:04.6. 

In the second varsity eight Yale was again on the inside.  The Bulldogs had a six seat lead going into the second 500 and broke open by the half despite Dartmouth making a big move around the turn.  Yale crossed the line in 5:50.5, the fastest time of the day.  Dartmouth finished two lengths behind in 5:56.2.

By the time the varsity eight went off a slight headwind had started to blow.  The Bulldogs, however, handled the conditions famously and rowed a clean race down their home course.  Yale's time was 5:54.5 to Dartmouth's 5:59.6, a gap over twice as big as last year's margin of victory.

The last race of the day was a 4V/2F exhibition race.  In the past, each of these two programs have not always had enough depth to field a fourth varsity eight, and that both of them were able to send one down the course on Saturday is good sign of more fast racing to come in future years.  In the worst conditions of the day the Yale fourth varsity won in 6:14.9, a time that would have rivaled that of the Dartmouth third varsity.  The Dartmouth fourth eight crossed the line in 6:55.6, giving Yale over a 40 second margin of victory. 

The heavyweights are at home again next weekend as they host Penn and Columbia for the Blackwell Cup.