Men's, women's crew to race on both coasts in weekend contests

Parties on both U.S. coasts could take place this weekend if crew steps up to its challengers and has them eating their bubbles.

This weekend all four crew teams will get their feet wet for the first time in the same weekend this spring. With a new season beginning, each team is looking for a way to set itself apart from the pack and to set the tone for the next month and a half.

Men's heavyweight crew takes on Rutgers in the "New Jersey Championships" on Saturday at Lake Carnegie. This was originally to be its second race of the season, but last weekend's match against Navy was postponed due to rough waters at the Academy. The Tigers are confident going into the race, given their recent history against the Scarlet Knights.

"We should do well, but Rutgers is very competitive," heavyweight men's head coach Curtis Jordan said. "We've won this race the last 10 or 12 years, so we've faired well against them. The 'New Jersey Championships' has always been competitive."

With the season just beginning, the heavyweight men's crew lineups, for both boat placement and seat placement within each boat, are still not set in stone, giving added motivation to each rower to show his mettle against the cross-state rivals on Saturday.

"It should be pretty competitive," Jordan went on to say. "We're still in the middle of selection, so I expect the group to be up for it."

Women's lightweight crew is the only team traveling this weekend. They will compete on the waters of Mission Bay in the San Diego Crew Classic on Saturday and Sunday. In their preliminary race on Saturday, the Tigers will face UC-San Diego, Cal, Texas, and Queens.

"None of the teams in our prelim have historically caused us problems, but one can never count an opponent out," women's lightweight head coach Heather Smith said. "Queens is a Canadian school, so we don't really know much about them. They may be either surprisingly fast or uncompetitive."

Some of the best rowing schools in North America will be attending this event, making it a good measuring stick for the lightweight women.

Smith said that she is "absolutely" looking forward to possible races against Stanford and Wisconsin.

"It will be a competitive event," Smith said. "There is a new team at Stanford that has been doing very well early. One of our top competitors in past seasons, Wisconsin, will be there. Our team is doing well, and it will be a relief to test ourselves against our best competition."

Women's open crew will row against two rival teams for the second Saturday in a row, this week taking on Rutgers and Columbia, also on Lake Carnegie. The Tigers look to establish a dominant position for themselves in the young season against the two nearby teams, as they try to improve on last year's fifth place finish in the NCAA Championships.

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"It's early in the season," open women's head coach Lori Dauphiny said. "No one has raced each other yet, so we don't really know where we stand at this point."

Despite internal struggles, the Tigers expect to develop their team unity against the Lions and the Scarlet Knights.

"We've had a slow start to the season, but we're on the right track," Dauphiny said. "The people on the team are motivated. We've had some issues on the team, so we're just taking it one step at a time."

With nearly equal contributions from the Classes of '02 (11 rowers), '03 (11 rowers), and '04 (12 rowers), the lightweight men look to notch victories over Columbia and Georgetown on Saturday and over Penn on Sunday with a team-first mentality. They are the only one of the four crew teams rowing both Saturday and Sunday on Lake Carnegie.

"We have a strong, well-balanced team, with no class dominating over any of the others in each boat," lightweight men's head coach Joe Murtaugh said. "We're a little bit untested, so I'd say we're in uncharted water.

"We've had good preparation," Murtaugh continued. "Things are going well, but we will be strongly tested this weekend against Columbia and Georgetown, and against Penn."

Crew has a full schedule of races this weekend. Boats will be whizzing by on Carnegie Lake as the heavyweight men and open women will both race on Saturday at 10:00 a.m., while the lightweight men race at noon. The lightweight team will also race at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. The lightweight women will be competing at 9:00 a.m. in San Diego, CA for their preliminary race.

The Princeton crew teams look to get a good start on the spring season, but tough competition may force tears in two oceans.