Dartmouth Takes Historic Packard Cup

Story and photo by Lauren Williams

Liverpool, N.Y.—Clear skies and calm waters greeted No. 14 Dartmouth and No. 16 Syracuse in this Saturday’s faceoff for the historic Packard Cup at the Onondaga Lake Outlet. The Big Green crews swept all four races to retain the title, outpacing the Orange from start to finish.

“It looked like our execution was a little off for whatever reason,” Syracuse head coach Dave Reischman, said. “It was disappointing to see that. Hats off to Dartmouth, they weren’t off [and] they had a great day.”

In 1959, Anthony Ladd of Syracuse created the Packard Cup to honor Edward Packard, a stroke on the Syracuse crew of 1904 that captured the first IRA Championship for the university. The trophy goes to the team that wins the annual matchup between Dartmouth and Syracuse. The win for the Big Green was its third in row.

“We value the tradition of this cup,” Dartmouth's first-year head coach, Wyatt Allen, said. “It’s very cool for me to be a part of this history.”

Quick Off the Start

Despite a quick start from the Orange in the first race of the morning, the Varsity eights, the Big Green quickly regained control of the race, setting the stroke rate at 41 strokes per minute before settling at 39. By the 500 meter mark of the 2,000 meter race, Dartmouth had opened its lead, lengthening the gap as the contest progressed. By the halfway point, the Big Green stretched the margin to more than two boat lengths, making it nearly impossible for the Orange to come back. Regardless, Syracuse tried to pick up the pace, but Dartmouth ultimately bested them, finishing the race in 5:39.1. The Orange covered the course in 5:44.0.

“I feel like we had a pretty solid start,” Syracuse coxswain, Christian Mund, said. “Then we shifted the pace and weren’t able to keep up with what they going with. We were just trying to find that solid rhythm that we know we have in practice and unfortunately weren’t able to translate that today.”

Much like the first race of the morning, the second varsity eight boat race followed the same trajectory. The Big Green came off the start strong and maintained the speed until the end of the race. Dartmouth’s 2V crew crossed the finish line with a time of 5:45.6, while Syracuse stopped the clock 13 seconds later at 5:58.3, more than three length of open water behind.

“I think what has dictated our best rowing this season is coming out strong in the first 500 and then attempting to hold on to it,” Dartmouth captain Stuart Maeder said. “Today going into the blocks, we definitely knew it was going to take a pretty big effort in the beginning of the race - try and break away from the Syracuse crews early because we know they’re perennially a pretty strong program.”

Next On the Agenda

Both teams head to Worcester, Mass. next week Sunday for the Eastern Sprints. Dartmouth won the event in 1992, while Syracuse looks to grab its first. This marks the final rowing event of the season before the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship, the oldest collegiate rowing championship in the country. Both teams' performance at the Sprints will determine whether they are invited to compete at the IRA.