The weekend belonged to Princeton crew.
Combined, the four Princeton crew teams faced a total of 12 squads from across the country this past weekend. For all the teams they faced, at least in the top varsity races, only one boat finished on top of a Tiger crew the whole weekend. Not too shabby.
Both the open weight women and the heavyweight men competed on Lake Carnegie — the women against Radcliffe, Cornell and Wisconsin, the men against Penn and Columbia for the Childs Cup.
Both lightweight teams took to the road, with the women battling a number of teams for the Knecht Cup in Camden, N.J., and the men facing Rutgers and Cornell for the Platt Cup in Ithaca, N.Y.
On Saturday, the open weight women chalked up their first loss of the season, which incidentally marked Princeton crew's only loss of the weekend. They had nothing to be ashamed of, however, as they hosted the Crimson, the Big Red and the Badgers, three excellent national teams. In the first varsity race, only Radcliffe edged the Tigers, seven minutes, 1.1 seconds to Princeton's 7:03.7. Both Cornell and Wisconsin were well behind, at 7:18.59 and 7:29.79, respectively.
The Tigers fared well in the rest of the open weight races also. Princeton took the second varsity eight race, the varsity fours Brace and the novice eights race and did not enter a second novice eight boat. The Crimson took the varsity fours A-race.
The heavyweight men entered the weekend prepared to defend last year's victory at the Childs Cup. The Quakers and the Lions paid the Tigers a visit in an attempt to prevent a Princeton win, but it was not to be. The Tigers dominated both teams on their home course, sweeping all four races.
No Penn or Columbia boat in any of the four races came within four seconds of victory. In the top varsity race, Princeton clocked in at 6:13.8, with the Quakers behind at 6:18.1. The Lions trailed almost 20 seconds behind Penn, finishing at 6:36.7.
The Tigers also held onto comfortable leads in the second varsity eights, novice eights, and second novice fours races.
In lightweight action, the Tiger women walked away from the Knecht Cup not only having maintained their undefeated record but also having proved they deserve that record. The Princeton first varsity crew stood up to pressure from top national teams to pull off a narrow victory over Radcliffe.
In the Grand Finals, the top Tiger boat faced five other solid crews. By the end, it was clear whom the team to beat will be for the rest of the season.
With a time of 6:58.3, Princeton finished only a hair ahead of the Crimson, who came in at 6:58.7. The rest of the field was more spread out. Wisconsin, University of Central Florida, Villanova and Delaware, in that order, clocked in no closer than two seconds apart. The Tigers had avenged last year's third-place finish at the Knecht Cup.
The rest of the lightweight women enjoyed every bit as much success. The novice eights topped three other crews, and Tiger A and B boats in the four-person race finished first and fourth, respectively, out of five teams.
After last week's tough loss to Georgetown, the lightweight men were looking to redeem their record. Their trip to Cornell was the perfect opportunity to show what they were truly capable of.
In the first varsity race, the team finished almost 10 seconds ahead of Rutgers with a time of 6:31.9 to the Scarlet Knights' 6:41.2. The Big Red finished third at 6:43.1. A strong headwind helped to extend the margin of victory.
The Tigers also clocked in first to take the second varsity and novice eight races. In the third varsity eights, Cornell defeated Princeton. But three out of four wins — not to mention possession of the Platt Cup — boosted the Tigers' confidence.
"Overall, we established a better rhythm [than last weekend]," men's lightweight coach Joe Murtaugh said. "We were generally more efficient moving the boat this week."
Each Princeton crew team can continue to feed off this past weekend's success as it moves on to face new teams and new challenges.
Next weekend, the lightweight men and open weight women take to the road — the men race Penn, and the women compete against Yale. The heavyweight men and lightweight women both host MIT and Harvard/Radcliffe on Lake Carnegie.
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