This weekend, the Princeton crew teams will be racing in their last big practice runs before Eastern Sprints.
Men's lightweight crew will compete in the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Regatta this weekend in Cambridge, Mass.
"At H-Y-Ps there is always a lot of emotion," head coach Joe Murtaugh said. "There should be a lot of good races across the board."
Looking ahead to Eastern Sprints on May 19, the Tigers are looking for a strong showing this weekend as a sign for how they will fare in the championship.
"This is our last regular season race before our championship, and we are looking for stiff competition across the board, if not from Harvard, then definitely from Yale," Murtaugh said.
Harvard, ranked seventh nationally, could race well in this rivalry match, but odds are that the major competition will be between the Elis and the Tigers.
"Harvard has not had great races lately," Murtaugh said, "but they have a lot of talent so we will still have our eye out for them."
They will have their eyes out for Harvard, but they know who the team to beat is.
"Yale is ranked number one in the country and we are number three, so how we race them should be a good indication of where we are," Murtaugh said. "If we can beat them, we will probably be number one going into the championships. If not, we will have a square target for what we need to do to get ready."
Women's lightweight crew will take on a team it is very familiar with in Radcliffe.
"Radcliffe beat us once, and we beat them once, so I'm hoping that the work our rowers did on their own will be a factor in us gaining some speed," lightweight women's head coach Heather Smith said.
Considering the history of the two teams, one would expect a close race to take place this weekend in Massachusetts.
"It is always interesting to race in Boston," Smith said. "The conditions can be as much of a challenge or factor as anything else."
At the last ranking of women's lightweight crews by US Rowing, the Tigers were ranked second, just one spot ahead of Radcliffe.
"I would hope it wouldn't be [a close race], but I won't be surprised if it is," Smith said.
In what should be a breeze for Princeton, women's open crew is racing Penn and George Washington Saturday on Lake Carnegie. The Quakers and the Colonials are ranked 11th and 16th, respectively, in the EAWRC, while the Tigers are ranked second.
"In the past, they haven't been a huge threat," senior rower Lia Welsch said, "but you can never know. It is definitely not one of our biggest races of the year."
This tune-up before Eastern Sprints, which is May 12 for the women, should give the Tigers confidence.
"We are going to come in expecting to win, obviously," Welsch said. "But anything can happen. Anything can happen with weather, anything can happen with people, anything can happen with boats."
The heavyweight men take on Brown tomorrow morning on Lake Carnegie in Princeton. The Bears are ranked sixth in the nation coming into this race, one place ahead of the Tigers.
Both teams have won three matches this year and have lost to Harvard. As a result, it should be a tight race.
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