Crews struggle to mixed results at Eastern Sprints

The women's lightweight crew came out on top again. With a narrow one-second victory over Wisconsin at the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing College Sprints in New Preston, Conn., on May 14, the Tigers successfully defended their 1999 EAWRC Sprints title. The women's open crew placed third at the event.

Meanwhile, at the Eastern Association of Rowing College Sprints this past weekend in Worcester, Mass., the lightweight men took fourth while the heavyweight men rowed to a second-place finish.

In the women's lightweight competition, the Tigers battled Wisconsin, Radcliffe and MIT for the title. While Princeton had not faced MIT this season, the Tigers had raced both Wisconsin and Radcliffe — splitting with the Badgers in their two meetings and convincingly defeating Radcliffe in all three contests.

At Sprints, Princeton got the better of all three schools, edging Wisconsin with a time of seven minutes, 12.10 seconds. Princeton's varsity four also won its event, defeating Wisconsin by three seconds in a time of 8:06.40.

In the women's open contest, the Tigers were unable to overcome Brown, Princeton's sole loss up until Eastern Sprints, as the Bears captured their third consecutive EAWRC title. The Tigers also succumbed to Radcliffe, a squad they had defeated earlier in the season, losing by two-and-a-half seconds. Princeton crossed the finish third with a time of 6:47.50.

Like the women's open crew, the men's heavyweights were unable to outlast a powerful Brown squad at the EARC Sprints. Princeton, which had lost to the Bears just two weekends ago by eight seconds, fell again to Brown, this time by a closer 1.81-second margin. Princeton's 5:44.99 was enough, however to secure a second-place finish, as it defeated Wisconsin, Harvard, Dartmouth and Northeastern.

The lightweights, meanwhile, had a tougher time in their field. In a tightly contested race, Princeton placed fourth with a time of 5:56.27, behind Columbia, Yale and Harvard. The Tigers' finish was, however, only four seconds slower than first-place Columbia's 5:52.48 time.