"The first weekend, we lost to Columbia, but we responded well to that and won some key races," said senior Noah Bloom. "We gained speed the whole season and we had some good races early on."

After Columbia, the Crimson's only other loss came against Yale, at the World Cup regatta. At Eastern Sprints, Yale took the crown and Dartmouth pulled into a surprise second, just past Harvard.

"We have to respect [Yale] as a very fast crew, but we also know that we're a contender," Bloom said. "We hope that we can turn the tables."

The first boat benefits from the experience of five seniors, four of whom faced a similar situation two years ago going into IRAs. The proficiency of the seniors has helped make the season as successful as it has been.

"Our first boat is mostly seniors," said senior Phil Mariani. "It's been fun rowing with the guys I rowed with freshman year."

The second varsity boat, as well as the first and second freshman boats, took sixth place at Sprints, while the third varsity boat took fifth. After a solid season, the lightweights expected higher results overall at Sprints, but will have a chance at redemption at the National Championship where they will race the varsity boat as well as two four-boats.

Competition in the lightweight division this year has been tighter than ever, which sets up IRAs as an open regatta for the taking provided that Yale does not dominate as it has in past races.

"Yale is definitely the crew to beat," Mariani said. "Each time we've raced them, we've picked up speed on them. We're confident in our abilities."