Women look to repeat success

The open and lightweight women's crew teams begin their season tomorrow morning. The open crew team faces Brown on Lake Carnegie while the lightweight women will participate in the Camden Invitational.

Coming off big victories from last spring and this fall, the teams begin the season optimistic and prepared.

Both teams began practicing on the first day of classes in September. Utilizing the new boathouse, with its abundant ergometers and state of the art rowing pool, the teams prepared for many hours for the fall season. The work paid off as the women's open team won the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Mass., for the first time.

Relocating inside for the winter, the teams built muscle and gained form in preparation for the long, tough spring season that begins on Saturday. During Intersession, both the open and lightweight teams travelled to Tampa, Fla., where they rowed twice a day. During Spring Break, the teams stayed in New Jersey and prepared for the races ahead.

The defending national champion women's lightweight crew team begins its season on Saturday at the Camden Invitational.

"Our toughest oppponents all season are Wisconsin and Villanova and we're going to face both of them this weekend," senior captain Julie Jarrett said.

A week later Princeton travels to California for the San Diego Crew Classic, then on to Washington, D.C., April 14 to row in the George Washington Invitational. On April 21 the team rows against Yale; on April 28 it hosts Wisconsin; and on May 5 it races against Georgetown and George Washington on Lake Carnegie. The Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges Sprints, held in Camden, takes place on May 13, and the team defends its Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship with races on June 1 and 2.

The women's open crew team begins its season on Saturday at Lake Carnegie versus Brown, which won the open IRA Championships last June. Having already handily beaten Virginia, Brown is a formidable opening opponent for the young open boat. On April 7 the team travels to Rutgers to face the Scarlet Knights and Columbia. The next week it faces Cornell and Harvard in Ithaca, N.Y., while racing a week later against Yale in New Haven, Conn. After this opening stretch of away races, the team rows at Lake Carnegie for the final two weeks of the season — playing host to Penn and Dartmouth on April 28 and then Georgetown and George Washington on May 5.

As with the lightweight team, the open team rows in the EAWRC Sprints on May 13. To cap off the season, it will participate in the NCAA Championships in a location to be announced from May 23-26.

The lightweight team looks forward to defending its IRA Championship. In last year's final, the lightweight women led from start to finish, taking a small lead at the start then jumping out to a five-seat lead over second place Villanova and third place Wisconsin. The Tigers won the race with a time of 7:03.5, followed 4 seconds later by Villanova.

The open team, too, is optimistic coming off its impressive victory in Cambridge this fall. Though a young team, its win at the Regatta proves they have the strength and stamina to compete at both the EAWRC Sprints and the NCAA Championships.