Men's heavyweight crew rebounds from loss

Faced with gusty winds and harsh rain in Cambridge two weekends ago, men's heavyweight crew's perfect record was swept up in the storm when Princeton fell to Harvard by three seconds.

Under clearer skies this past weekend, the heavyweights rebounded from the loss, beating both Cornell and Yale in Ithaca, N.Y., Saturday.

Both the Tigers and the Elis started strong early, with Yale holding a slight lead over Princeton. At about the halfway mark, Yale began to lose pace with the Tigers, as the Elis failed to answer when Princeton made a move.

"What we were really trying to work on was the middle of the race," junior Matt Adams said. "We wanted to keep our speed and I think we accomplished that."

Keeping this rate, the Tigers dominated the second half of the course, cruising to the finish in a time of six minutes and two seconds, almost seven seconds ahead of Cornell, which sprinted ahead of Yale with 500 meters left in the race.

Things did not go quite as smoothly for the lightweight men in New Haven, however. Racing at the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton regatta, the varsity eight boat — ranked No. 4 in the country — failed to pull off an upset over either the No. 1 Elis or the No. 3 Crimson.

Turn in the road

Because there was a turn in the course, the teams were placed in a staggered start, with Princeton occupying the inside lane. Naturally trailing early, the Tigers fell further behind Harvard and Yale, who were about neck and neck after 750 meters, going into the turn. The turn, which was supposed to work to the inside lane boat's advantage, failed to provide the necessary lift for the Tigers.

"We didn't move any in the turn, which is what we needed to do," junior Christian Wenk said.

In fact, Princeton fell further back in the second half of the race, as the other two boats made a move with 500 meters to go in the course that the Tigers failed to answer. Princeton finished third in a time of 5:38.8 — more than seven seconds behind the Eli's 5:41.3 first-place finish.

Meanwhile at Lake Carnegie, the women's open varsity eight easily overwhelmed Dartmouth and Penn.The harsh headwind that blew through Lake Carnegie Saturday proved somewhat of an obstacle for the Tiger women.

"[Because of the wind], I thought we rowed somewhat short and choppy instead of long and strong," head coach Lori Dauphiny said. "It wasn't one of our best races but we got the job done."

Despite the wind, the varsity eight boat pulled out to an early lead, with Dartmouth settling into second and Penn occupying third. Just before the 1000 meter mark, Dartmouth made a move, taking a couple of seats from Princeton. The Tigers quickly returned the favor as they took a couple of seats back from the Big Green. Princeton would hold this lead until the final 300 meters where it sprinted to garner an open water victory in a time of 7:03.34, five seconds ahead of Dartmouth.

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In the varsity four competition, the Tiger's first and second boats finished one and two, in times of 8:15.26 and 8:26.27, respectively.

Also at Lake Carnegie and taking on Radcliffe for the third time this season, the women's lightweight crew had no trouble disposing of their familiar competitors in both the varsity eight and the varsity four races.

"It became apparent early on in both races that Princeton was stronger," head coach Heather Smith said.

In the varsity eight, the Tigers dictated the entire race. Princeton set the tone early with a powerful start that allowed them to jump out to a definitive lead.

From there, Princeton cruised, building on its lead and never letting Radcliffe get close. The Tigers crossed the finish line in a time of 7:36.19 — more than 22 seconds ahead of Radcliffe's 7:58.54 finish.

Though the varsity four boat did not jump out to as strong a start as the varsity eight, it held a wide margin over its Radcliffe competitors through most of the race and won easily by 24 seconds.