Freshmen hit the water

For freshman men's heavyweight crew, the last two months can only be described as the survival of the fittest. In September, over 50 rowers fought for a seat on the two freshman shells. By early October, the crew was down to 16, just enough for two full boats. Less than two weeks later, three more freshmen quit, and the crew was down to 13: 10 recruits and three walk-ons.

Finally, on Sunday, the freshmen had the chance to demonstrate the progress they had made and how well they had been able to come together as a boat. Their efforts were displayed in the Belly of the Carnegie, the annual freshman regatta that Princeton hosts for crews from all over the East Coast.

With three lightweight freshmen joining the heavyweights to fill the two eight-man shells, the Tigers placed second and seventh among the 25 boats competing. The top boat lost to a crew from Harvard by just nine seconds.

"Overall, it was a positive day," freshman heavyweight head coach Marty Crotty '98 said. "Harvard had a really deep crew, seats one through 16. While first and second place is always great, at least we were able to take a chunk out of the gap between us and Harvard."

Princeton also just missed out on the Belly Bowl, the trophy awarded to the combined highest score from the three contested races: men's heavyweights, men's lightweights and women's open weights. The Tigers had previously claimed the Bowl for three straight years and nine of the past 11, but this time, Harvard claimed the top spot.

First timers

For several of Princeton's walk-on rowers, the race was not just the first of the year, but it was also the first of their career.

"I was definitely nervous," said freshman Brendan Owen, who had never even seen a regatta. "I was even nervous the day before the race. Everyone said the adrenaline would help, but I was apprehensive about how I would hold up."

Plenty was on the line, after all — this was a test of how far the walk-ons had come and how well they could blend with the recruits to pull their collective weights against other colleges' freshman crews.

As the rowers prepared to hit the water, they remembered the words that Crotty had yelled at the end of an intra-team race in October, urging them to dig deep for the last several hundred meters.

"Think about what you're going to do at the Belly of the Carnegie in a few weeks," he had called across the water. "Pound the other boat into submission; make them think it's not so bad to lose."

The Tigers brought that spirit onto the water, but it wasn't quite enough. They weren't the only crew to deliver intensity.

"The word that comes to mind is exhausting," Owen said. "By the third stroke I was tired, and three-quarters of the way through I was thinking, 'I don't know how I can keep going.' "

Hitting the ergs

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The freshmen will nowget a break; Friday will be their last day on the lake. After that, the trial continues into the winter for Crotty and his team as they continue to try to blur the line between the novices and the recruits. They will be working inside on the ergs — stationary rowing machines — to fine-tune their technique, build endurance and push the limits of their strength.

The freshmen will be responsible for their own development over the next two months until the team heads to Florida over intercession. They will only practice with Crotty once or twice a week; other than that, they are expected to work on the ergs and do endurance and strength training on their own.

Though the crew's performance at the Belly just barely failed to live up to the expectations set by Princeton's past freshman crews, its success bodes well for the future as these 13 rowers head into winter training before their first season as contenders for a national championship this spring.