MALDEN - The Wellesley College Women's Varsity Eight, raked #2 in the NCAA national polls, fought off a strong bid by the #8 Tufts Jumbos to retain their hold on the Malden River Friendship Cup.
Wellesley had a relatively easy opening heat win over Smith in the preliminary round, beating their NEWMAC opponent by a little more than 19 seconds. The Jumbos dispatched Simmons in similar fashion in their heat, with a margin of 10+ seconds.
The final was a wild and woolly affair. Unlike the previous meeting two weeks ago, where Wellesley led from wire to wire, the Jumbos stepped out to an early lead on the Malden River Course. Tufts pushed to a three-seat lead at 500 meters, and held that margin through the turns in the second 500 meters. The Jumbos held a two-seat advantage at the halfway point.
Wellesley answered authoritatively in the third 500 meters, and the Jumbos were unable to counter the thrust and gave up 6.5 seconds in the third quarter of the race. Tufts closed in the final 500 meters to finish in 7:01.7 to Wellesley's 6:56.8. The final margin was nine seconds closer than the first meeting two weeks ago.
The Tufts Varsity Men split into two fours for a local brush with downstream neighbor Wentworth Institute and handled the visiting Engineers handily. Wentworth was down a couple of seniors attending graduation ceremonies, and it showed, as the Jumbos handled the Wentworth first and second fours with little drama.
In other actions the Tufts 3rd Varsity Women continued to show growth with back-to-back victories over Simmons and Smith, while the 2nd Varsity lost to Simmons and then got edged by Smith in the closest race of the day, 7:34.2 to 7:36.7.
All the Jumbo Crews return to action in Worcester next Saturday at the New England Rowing Champiopnships.
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