Men's crew enjoys successful weekend against Ivy League teams

All four Princeton crew teams had successful outings this weekend, with both men’s squads and women’s openweight scoring dual meet victories while women’s lightweight competed at the Knecht Cup Regatta in a series of over four races. Braving winter-like conditions on various bodies of water in New Jersey and New York, the teams overcame both the weather and their competitors in what was, perhaps, their best collective performance of the season so far. With only a few weeks remaining in the dual-meet season, all four teams are hitting their stride at the right time as the championships approach.

In a race that was moved forward to Friday in anticipation of inclement weather, the No. 9 overall openweight women’s team put on an impressive display in upstate New York against rivals Cornell and Harvard to keep the Class of 1975 Cup. The Tigers outpaced the No. 17 Crimson by over nine seconds, with the Big Red coming in third behind them. The win over Harvard will be especially encouraging for Princeton, as the Crimson will be one of Princeton’s stiffest competitors at the Ivy League Championships, along with Yale and reigning champions Brown. In addition to victory in the top boat, the team also exhibited excellent depth, with the Second Varsity Eight, Varsity Four and Varsity Four B all winning their races as well.

On Saturday, fourth-ranked men’s lightweight faced off against Dartmouth and Delaware on Lake Carnegie in their first home race of the season. The Tigers took care of business against both teams, narrowly edging out the Blue Hens by a three-second margin, with the Big Green crossing the line six seconds later. Princeton was also able to win in the second, third, fourth and fifth boats, sweeping the field in what was a triumphant day overall. With defending national champions Columbia coming to Lake Carnegie next weekend, Princeton will be glad to have avoided being upset this weekend as they look to assert themselves into the nation’s elite.

The third-ranked men’s heavyweight team travelled to Teaneck, N.J., on Saturday to face Penn and Columbia for the Childs Cup. The Tigers have dominated the competition in recent years and this time around proved no different, as Princeton notched a commanding 10-second victory over the Quakers, with Columbia finishing a distant third. With the win, Princeton remains undefeated on the year as they gear up to face their two strongest Ivy League opponents, Yale and Cornell, in the next two weeks.

In a departure from the usual dual meet format, the women’s lightweight team participated in a series of four races in nearby West Windsor, N.J. The first boat entered a race with openweight boats and, despite the disadvantage, still managed to take an impressive third place, losing out to Boston College and North Carolina, but finishing before Drexel, Kansas and Alabama. In addition to that strong race by the first four competing above their weight class, the Tigers’ second boat also took third in the lightweight A final and the novice boat won their race by a slim two-second margin. The team gets the next weekend off from racing, before facing a beatable Georgetown squad in their final dual-meet of the season.