Women's lightweight crew to race in Knecht Cup in Camden

After a relatively relaxed week, the open and lightweight women's crew teams are faced with some formidable competition this weekend.

The lightweight team travels to Camden, N.J. to race against several crew teams for the Knecht Cup on Saturday and Sunday, while the open women host Cornell, Wisconsin and Radcliffe on Saturday.

Both teams hope to continue their early successes. The lightweights have only taken part in one regatta this season, but in those races they demolished their opponents — namely Radcliffe, Cal-Davis, and Stanford. Open weight has seen more competition, starting the season off with a huge win against Brown and Michigan, then last weekend defeating both Rutgers and Columbia by wide margins.

The lightweight women had this past weekend off from collegiate competition, but the break wasn't exactly restful. It "allowed the team to train hard through the week and pull a 2K [2000 kilometer] ergometer test on Saturday," lightweight coach Heather Smith said.

Both teams have been forced to battle bad weather recently. Though it hasn't significantly altered Princeton's training, as senior lightweight captain Laurie Dean said, "Snow in April is never pleasant."

The weather isn't the Tigers' only challenge. Competition should be fierce for the Knecht Cup. In varsity competition, Smith singled out Radcliffe, Wisconsin, and Villanova as the biggest threats to Princeton's undefeated season to date.

The Tigers won over the Crimson at the Windermere Collegiate Crew Classic by just two seconds, and the Badgers are coming off a win over five other nationally-ranked teams at the San Diego Crew Classic, in which the Wildcats took second place. Princeton also races Georgetown, which won the Jesuit Invitational on March 22.

The Tigers are looking forward to racing on a very familiar course, as the annual league and sprint championships in which Princeton competes are both held at Camden.

"It is a great feeling to be so comfortable with a course," Dean said.

The weekend will give the entire team a chance to compete for the first time — only the top varsity boat competed in the first regatta.

"It is an exciting weekend for several reasons — first race for some of the rowers, two days of racing for almost all of the rowers, and a chance for all of the lightweights to race at the same event," Smith said.

Above all, the regatta's variety of teams should give the Tigers a chance to see how they measure up to other crews around the country.

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"The Knecht Cup includes many schools that Princeton does not usually compete against from different regions, leagues and divisions," Smith said.

Tough competition ahead

The open weight women face an equally challenging weekend when the Big Red, the Badgers and the Crimson pay a visit to Lake Carnegie. Saturday's race gives the Tigers a chance to continue their undefeated season, but it won't be easy — certainly not like last weekend, when Princeton won all but one race by more than ten seconds.

"[Saturday's race] should be some fierce racing," open weight coach Lori Dauphiny said. "[Wisconsin has] had very little time on the water. Harvard and Cornell did well this fall and will be tough competition."

"The three crews will be very tough competition," senior captain Sasha Suda added. "Cornell had a strong showing in its races against Yale last weekend, Harvard is always really fast, and I expect Wisconsin to be right in there."

In Saturday's racing format, each of the Big Red, Badger, Crimson and Tiger boats will compete at the same time.

"It's going to be a tough race because when you have four boats across, no one is likely to just drop off — the more boats in a race, the more interesting," Suda said.

The two four-person boats — novice and varsity — race first Saturday morning, followed by the novice and second varsity eight. The top varsity eight compete last.

The only thing to do against these three talented opponents is for Princeton to give all it's got.

"We just plan on going hard the whole way through," Suda said.

That strategy has worked so far. Hopefully for both the lightweight and open weight women, it will continue to work this weekend in the face of strong competition.