Crew opens its season at N.H. On Saturday, the men's and women's varsity crew teams traveled to the New Hampshire Championships for their first competition of the year. Both teams battled cold and rain in the 5k race in addition to the competition which included Colby College, MIT, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, Coast Guard Academy and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The men's team, coached by Jen Campbell and Matt Smith, consisted of coxswain Monisha Cherayil '05 and rowers David Lieberman '03, Matt Closter '04, Matt Closter '04, Adam Ulano '05, Peter Belensky '04, Baya Harrison '06, Dan Hirshon '04, Jonathan Landesman '05 and Jason Gallet '05. They finished the race in 16:39.

The women's team, also coached by Campbell and Smith and consisted of coxswain Jen Ross '05 and Meghan Gallagher '05, Elizabeth Duncan '05, Linda Clifford '03, Allison Brown '03, Marisa Jaffe '05, April Schmidt '05, Elizabeth Mendes '06 and Rachel Bressler '04. They finished the race in 19:38.

Neither team had a time which was good enough to win - and though they ran a solid meet - they were disappointed by the outcome.

"Honestly, we did ok, but the rowers wanted to do better-the rowers always want to do better, that's why they're such great competitors. They're generally pleased with how they did, but willing to chalk it up as a first race," Co-secretary Naomi Lourie '04 said.

The next competition is the Head of the Charles Rover on Oct. 19, a men's only race. Both teams will compete in the Head of the Fish on Oct. 26.

Rugby crushes St. Anselms 39-0

The rugby club defeated St. Anselms on Sunday in a game that was ugly in more ways than one.

The game was very sloppy in that the score was 39-0, and that the condition of the field quickly deteriorated into a giant mud pit due to persistent rain. St. Anselms was never able to get it together as they fell behind 24-0, and did not threaten to score throughout the game. Captain Elie Schwartz '04 scored two tries, as did Peter Dempsey '03. Joe Borovsky '03 scored once.

"It was muddy, cold, and pretty light-hearted," Schwartz said. "We had superb forward play."

There were no injuries during the game. The rugby club is now 2-1 overall, and 2-0 in the Division Four Club League. The next game is this weekend at New England College.

Ultimate sends two to College Fall Challenge

The ultimate Frisbee club had its first competition of the year this weekend in the New England College Fall Challenge at Fort Devens, Mass. Both the A and B teams participated in the tournament against Tufts, Bates, Skidmore, Williams, MIT, Dartmouth, Boston College, Boston University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The A club, "TRON", was ranked fourth in their pool consisting of Williams, Tufts, Skidmore and Bates.

In the first game against Tufts, TRON started out slowly, but played well after that. They lost 11-7 to a Tufts team that is perennially in the nation's top 15.

In the second game against Bates, TRON dominated despite sloppy play due to the weather, and won 11-0.

Against Skidmore, TRON fell behind early, but recovered and was only down 6-4 at the half. In the second half, the team faltered further, falling behind 8-4. As the conditions worsened, the team's play improved, and they gutted out an emotional win 11-8.

In Saturday's final game against Williams, TRON was trounced 11-0, partly due to the fatigue from playing four consecutive games.

On Sunday, TRON defeated Boston College 13-11, but fell to Boston University 15-11. Ari Browne '03 played well on both offense and defense, and Adam Sheps '03 played solid defense.

"I thought that we played really well at points. The rain and the wind definitely made it more difficult for us, but I was happy with our performance," Co-captain Stephen Medow '03 said.

"Our team is really stepping it up this year. Last year, we lacked something that enabled us to upset teams, but this year things are clearly different. With a newfound team unity and so many greatly improved players, I think we can go farther than we ever have before," Co-captain Gabriel Reif '04 added.

The B team, "TRON B", was pooled with Williams B, Dartmouth B, MIT B, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute B. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the main draw, where they lost to Tufts B 15-13.

TRON B won the consolation bracket with a 15-9 win over WPI B and a 11-8 win over Dartmouth B.

A quick look at NCAA Div. I rankings

ESPN.com and the Associated Press reported that Miami remained No. 1 and Texas fell to eighth in both college football polls released Sunday.

In The Associated Press media poll, the Hurricanes set the record for most consecutive weeks ranked No. 1. The Hurricanes, who extended the nation's longest winning streak to 28 games with a 28-27 victory over Florida State, remained in the top spot for a record 19th straight AP poll.

In the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll, Miami (6-0) lost two first-place votes but still had a stranglehold on the top spot, earning 58 of a possible 61 and 1,522 points overall.