Weatherwise, it was a pretty crummy weekend in New Jersey. It was rainy, cold, even a little bit windy — all in all, far from ideal conditions for a crew race. But don't tell that to women's heavyweight crew. Racing like nothing could be better, and like last weekend's frustrating loss to Brown was a distant memory, the Tigers dominated Rutgers and Columbia Saturday, beating second place Rutgers by 7.5 seconds.
The weather was not so great for the women's lightweight crew this weekend either. San Diego, famed for its sun and beaches, and the Pacific — known for calmness — produced high winds and cloudy skies for the Knecht Cup, in which the Tigers were looking to defend their title against national rivals Wisconsin and Villanova.
Saturday, the Tigers were able to overcome the poor conditions against a slow field, winning the preliminary heat with relative ease. But on Sunday, primed for a rematch with Wisconsin, the Tigers fell a bit short. The wind and whitecapping waves were gone, but the Tigers were unable to overcome the Badger's strong start. Though the Tigers made up six seats in their final sprint, they ultimately lost the race by one second.
According to junior stroke Linda Loyd, the Tigers are disappointed but still optimistic.
"I think this weekend was a good learning experience. Of course we wanted to win, but we came out of the race knowing what we have to do to beat Wisconsin, and feeling like it is within our reach," Loyd said. "We have a lot of season left."
For the open weight women, this past weekend was just what they needed after a rough season-opening loss to Brown.
"This Saturday was a good race and has us fired up for next weekend's race against Cornell and Radcliffe," sophomore stroke Sasha Suda said. "Right now we just feel like every win is awesome."
Perhaps more importantly, the Tigers are getting better with every race.
"We are a young boat and so our learning curve is steep. Every day we learn huge new things and every day our boat gets progressively faster" said Suda.
The lightweight women are learning, too. They hope that what they saw in this weekend's loss to Wisconsin will teach them what they need to turn the tables on the Badgers later in the season. The Tigers will get a chance to show how much progress they have made April 28, when they host Wisconsin on Lake Carnegie.
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