The men’s and women’s crew teams took big steps in their respective programs when they began their spring seasons at Lake Cayuga in Ithaca, N.Y. March 28.

The men’s varsity eight registered an impressive victory over the Rochester Institute of Technology, while the women’s varsity eight and varsity four both notched victories over Cornell University, which hosted the event, and Syracuse University.

“Across the board it was a really positive result for us on both the men’s and women’s side,” GW head crew coach Steve Peterson said. “These were really big wins for us.”

After a slow start, the men’s eight steadily pulled even and eventually ahead of RIT in posting an easy seven-second victory. GW finished the 2000-meter race in 5:59.0, well ahead of Rochester’s time of 6:06.2.

“The win was significant for the men because even though RIT is a small school, it has traditionally been a dominant force in men’s crew,” Peterson said. RIT finished second at the Champion International Collegiate Regatta, one of the biggest late-season races, a season ago.

Peterson said the success of the men’s eight, which is turning out to be a very young boat, is thanks at least in part to the leadership of co-captain Brendan O’Malley, one of just three seniors on the team.

“He’s been a good leader, and he hasn’t been discouraged when the younger guys have made inexperienced mistakes,” Peterson said.

The women’s varsity eight posted an equally important win at the meet. The Colonial women finished their race in 6:24.6, edging out Cornell (6:27.2) and blowing away Syracuse (6:39.3).

GW took charge of the race early and built a boat-length lead before the halfway point. Cornell made a move at that point, though, to cut GW’s lead to half a boat-length before GW made a sprint at the end hold its lead.

“This weekend was really important for us and our chances of making the NCAAs,” Peterson said. “Cornell and Syracuse figured into us not making it last year.” Syracuse placed 14th in 1997’s NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships, while Cornell was ranked 15th in the 1998 coaches’ preseason poll.

The women’s eight, which Peterson calls “the strongest women’s crew” he’s ever coached, has a chance to make this year’s NCAAs if it continues to turn in solid performances like the one at Lake Cayuga.

Also at the meet, the GW women’s varsity four earned a victory with a time of 7:38.5, more than 15 seconds ahead of the Cornell crew.

The next meet for both crew teams will be the annual GW Invitational Crew Classic, which will be held April 11 on the Potomac River. The regatta will feature crews from a total of 15 schools, including some very strong boats.

On the men’s side the Naval Academy, a perennial powerhouse, will be competing along with the Georgetown University and the University of New Hampshire. On the women’s side, the University of Virginia – ranked third in the preseason by the coaches, Navy, Georgetown and Columbia University all will compete.