Crews turn in mixed results: Men's heavyweights win Sprints

With Harvard, Brown and Princeton trading places at the top of the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges rankings throughout this year, the men's heavyweight Grand Final was almost certain to be among the most exciting races of Sprints.

Princeton wanted no part of excitement, however.

The Tigers broke away from the Bears and Crimson 500 meters into the final and never looked back, taking the Sprints title by three seconds over second place Harvard. Brown, which was ranked No. 1 entering the weekend, finished a surprising fourth, as Northeastern crossed the line one-hundreth of a second ahead of the Bears to take third place.

The men's heavyweight team will send varsity and second varsity eights, two varsity fours, a freshman four, and a freshman eight to IRAs, which begin today and will run through Saturday. In addition to the competition at Eastern Sprints, including powerhouse Brown, the men will face the nation's top-ranked boat and two-time defending national champion — California.

The men's lightweights will take the varsity eight, a straight four (without coxswain), and a few yet-to-be determined boats to IRAs. These boat will be made up of a collection of varsity and novice rowers looking to gain additional championship experience.

Only the varsity boat will race strictly against lighweight competition — all other boats will compete in racesopen to all weight classes. And they will have their work cut out for them.

The lightweights took sixth at Eastern Sprints last weekend, and will see all the same boats at IRAs in two weeks. But all is not lost.

"Everyone has a shot," senior Troy Hickman said. "With three weeks to train, some schools really gel and gain a ridiculous amount of speed. Other boats peak at Sprints and lose speed at IRAs."

Going in to Eastern Sprints, a few rowers on the women's open weight varsity boat had lost to Brown seven straight times. They didn't want to make this the eighth.

The Tigers knew who they had to beat to come away with a victory. Their only loss of the season came March 31 against Brown, and every loss over the past three years had come to the Bears as well.

But the streak was not to come to an end, however. The Bears cruised to their fourth-straight Sprints victory with a time of six minutes, 38.40 seconds. Princeton crossed the finish line three seconds later in second place at 6:41.45.

The troubles continued at NCAAs on May 25th in Gainesville, Ga. The varsity boat placed fifth behind Washington, Michigan, Brown and Ohio State. This was a disappointing result for a team that had been shooting for the national title.

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The lightweight women's varsity eight will accompany the men to Camden, N.J. In addition to UCSD and Villanova, always a wildcard in lightweight racing, Princeton will face nemesis Wisconsin for the fifth time this year. The teams have split the four previous races this year — Princeton took the Knecht Cup by four seconds, Wisconsin won at the San Diego Crew Classic by one second, Princeton won at the World Cup by two seconds, and Wisconsin defeated the Tigers at Eastern Sprints last weekend by .55 seconds. The fifth and final matchup will likely determine this year's national champion, but will definitely not be the final chapter in the rivalry between the Badgers and Tigers.