Future is bright for men's crew

After a long and exhaustive training season extending back to the first day of classes in September, Saturday finally marks the beginning of the 2001 rowing season for the men's heavyweight and lightweight crew teams. Though they competed in the fall at the Head of Charles in Cambridge, Mass., and at home in the Princeton Chase, the true test comes in the eight weeks ahead, as both teams begin their quest to win the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints May 13 and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships June 2.

Both teams are as excited and focused as they always are before the start of a season, but the hopes for this season seem to be greater than those in the past. The lightweight team is even deeper and more competitive than last year's team which finished only .15 seconds behind Yale at the IRA Championships. The heavyweight team regains its head coach, Curtis Jordan, and two key rowers, seniors Tom Herschmiller and Paul Teti — all of whom missed last year to train for the Sydney Olympics.

The loss of these top performers caused problems for the heavyweight squad last year, and while Princeton had a good season, their return makes the future look even better for the Tigers' chances.

The heavyweight team begins its spring season with a race against Navy on Saturday morning at 8:30 on Lake Carnegie, followed by the lightweight race at noon against Georgetown and Columbia.

"We're excited," senior heavyweight captain Mark Flickinger said. "We've been thinking about Saturday, March 31 since we set foot on campus this year."

Navy shouldn't cause too many problems for the heavyweights as they look to duplicate their eight second defeat of the Midshipmen in last year's opening race. This first race is crucial, however, in starting the men off on the right foot.

"It's your first test of speed in a racing situation," Flickinger said. "You really want to go out aggressively and put together a good race that you can build off of for the rest of the season."

After Navy, the heavyweight team travels to Rutgers on April 7, then faces Columbia and Penn on April 14 in New York, Harvard with MIT on April 21 on Lake Carnegie, and Yale with Cornell in New Haven on April 28. On May 5, the week before the EARC Sprints, the team races Brown, the defending EARC Sprints champions.

"I think this team has a lot of potential," said Flickinger. He believes that utilizing this potential, improving their speed, and working hard daily will lead them to another competitive, successful season.

The lightweights, too, face a tough schedule. After starting with Georgetown and last year's EARC Sprint champions Col-umbia, they face formidable opponents in the month of April: Navy, then Cornell and Rutgers, followed by Penn, and culminating with Yale and Harvard. As do the heavyweights, the lightweights compete in the EARC sprints on May 13 and the IRA Championships on June 2.

"Each week is going to be a fight," senior lightweight captain Jim Johannes said. "The whole league is fast. It's going to be a serious challenge this year."

However, with increased depth the team looks to improve upon last year's early inconsistency and again compete for the EARC Sprints and IRA championships.

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"We are a pretty strong group of guys and have a lot of experience returning," said Johannes. "We have the potential to accomplish all our goals this season."