Men's heavyweight crew rises to victory, lightweights fall to Harvard, Yale

The problem with serving souffle for dinner is that it does not always rise. Rumor has it that even the legendary Julia Child refused to tackle the souffle challenge on her cooking show, lest her hard-earned reputation be tarnished by a series of runny failures.

Racing in extremely fast conditions in Derby, Conn., this weekend, men's heavyweight crew accomplished a feat commensurate to cooking up a short-order souffle in front of a live television audience. Ignoring the fickle weather and water, they rowed to victory against Yale and Cornell.

For a little while, however, it looked like Princeton's souffle was not going to rise. As senior captain Mark Flickinger explained, the conditions at Yale made the race into something of a crapshoot.

"There was a strong tailwind and a strong tail current out there. With those types of conditions, anything can happen in a race. It makes for close margins and fast times."

The heavyweights, without the luxury of making their own schedules and without the power to control the elements, found out this Saturday that adversity only makes things more interesting.

The Yale and Cornell boats challenged the Tigers the length of the piece, but in the end, it was the Tigers who emerged on top, three seconds ahead of second-place Yale.

"Both Cornell and Yale had good races, pushing us all the way down the course. When it was over, we were just glad to have gotten out of there with a win," Flickinger said.

The heavyweights were not the only Tiger oarsmen trying to cook up something special this weekend. Racing in the always significant Harvard-Yale-Princeton race, this year held on Mercer Lake at the World Cup, the lightweights were looking to continue a month-long streak of victories following an early-season loss to Georgetown.

But like an obstinate spinach souffle, the race just wouldn't go the Tigers' way. The recipe for success that had served the lightweights well for most of April was not enough, and the Tigers finished third, 11 seconds behind first-place Yale and seven seconds behind second-place Harvard.

Though this defeat certainly hurts, the lightweights' season is far from over. With the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints coming up in two weeks, and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in a month, the Tigers have their most important races ahead of them.

This weekend's collapse can be erased; losses in the next two events will be much less easily forgotten.

As for the heavyweights, Brown Bear is on the menu for next weekend.

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Saturday's Eli souffle was impressive, but making a meal of the defending Sprints champions, ranked third in the EARC this year, would elevate the Tigers to a new level of virtuosity.