Heavyweights win thriller out west

This weekend, both the men's heavyweight and lightweight crews competed for the first time this spring.

When all was said and done, the Midshipmen of Navy had felt the brunt of a Tiger attack, suffering defeat by both varsity crews. Defeating Navy, a strong competitor in both the heavyweight and lightweight divisions, was the highlight of an intense first weekend of rowing for both Princeton teams. The heavyweights' weekend began with their trip to Redwood Shores, Calif., where the Tigers competed against the crews of UC-Berkeley, Wisconsin, and Navy in the Windmere Collegiate Crew Classic. Princeton's first race of the Classic and the spring 2003 season was against Navy, a race that coach Curtis Jordan called "the most important race of the weekend, as it was a seasonal cup race."

The Tigers got off to a sloppy start, trailing Navy by 1.6 seconds at the halfway point of the race. In the next 500 meters, however, the Tigers showed power that will serve them well over the season to come.

In the one minute and thirty-plus seconds that it took the Tigers to row that 500 meters, Princeton cut Navy's lead by almost 1.4 seconds, setting the stage for a dramatic comeback victory. In the last 500, the Tigers overtook the Midshipmen, crossing the finish line with a hard-earned margin of victory of .2 seconds.

The comeback over Navy would be the high point of the heavyweights' weekend. In later competition, the Tigers fell to Wisconsin, last spring's Eastern Sprints Champion and the runner-up at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship. Wisconsin's final margin of victory was just over 3.2 seconds. Princeton then raced UC-Berkeley, last year's national champion, and came up short by a margin of about 4.4 seconds.

Despite these disappointing losses to the nation's powerhouse crews, however, the weekend was a promising start to the season for the Tigers.

The defeat of Navy meant that Princeton had achieved its top priority of the western trip, and the team will now look ahead and train for its next race against Rutgers this Saturday. The coming weeks will also include the start of competition against Ivy League rivals Penn and Columbia on April 12, as well as Harvard and Brown in upcoming weeks.

Princeton's second varsity heavyweight boat also competed at the Windmere Classic, also losing to the talented crews of UC-Berkeley and Wisconsin. The third varsity and the first freshman eights stayed at home in Princeton to race against Navy, with both Tiger crews finishing with easy victories.

The lightweights also opened their season with a bang this weekend, sweeping races against Navy and Columbia on Lake Carnegie. The Navy crew was considered one of the Tigers' main challengers going into the season, but Princeton earned a decisive victory, defeating the Midshipmen by just over 3.5 seconds. Columbia also fell to the lightweights, although the Lions fared better than Navy in losing to Princeton by just a 1.2 second margin.

These victories mark a strong start to the season for the lightweight varsity, considering that the team lost twice to the Midshipmen last spring. The weekend sweep of two competitive crews should provide a solid springboard into upcoming races against Georgetown, Cornell and Pennsylvania, among others.

The other lightweight crews followed the varsity's example as the second and third varsity eights and the first freshmen all emerged victorious over Navy and Columbia.

Both the heavyweight and lightweight crew teams will look to build on the success enjoyed this weekend in their upcoming races. The heavyweights' next opponent is Rutgers on Saturday, a race to be held in East Brunswick, N.J. The lightweights will host Georgetown at home this Saturday.