While many Princeton students hit the beaches over spring break, the Princeton crew hit the water harder than ever. The Tigers used the break from classes to double their practice time. This practice clearly served the teams well in their debut races this weekend.
Women's crew
Spring break did not bring the sun and warmth of the crew's Intersession trip to Tampa, Fla.
"Another trip south would be nice compared to the freezing temperatures and winds we had [on Lake Carnegie] over spring break," head coach Lori Dauphiny said. "We accomplished some good work over break but a little sunshine would have been nice."
Staying on campus gave the team extra practice on the very water that will host five of its six races this season.
The practice paid off last weekend. The Tigers lived up to their No. 1 ranking, claiming victory over top-10 crews from Brown and the University of Michigan. Princeton's first varsity eight won by nearly 10 seconds, with a time of seven minutes and 0.9 seconds to Brown's 7:10.2 and Michigan's 7:21.1. The second varsity eight took second place in its race with a time of 7:27.5.
Princeton finished two varsity four boats ahead of both Brown and Michigan. Princeton A came in first with a time of 8:26.9 and Princeton B came in second in 8:35.9.
The novice eight also sailed to victory with a time of 7:15.0, ahead of second place Brown.
Next Saturday, the open crew will face Rutgers, Columbia and Georgetown at home.
Women's lightweight crew headed to Redwood City, Calif., for the second half of the week, racing in the Windermere Classic last weekend. Princeton had three races and came away with two victories.
The Tigers lost the first race on Saturday against Radcliffe, with a time of 8:16.1 to Radcliffe's 8:09.9. "Our race against Radcliffe taught us that we need to be firing on all cylinders — technically, mentally, as well as powerfully — if we want to beat the top boats," senior captain Kim Nakamaru said.
The team recovered to beat Stanford by over 30 seconds later that day, with a time of 7:36.1. The next day they finished with an even larger lead, beating Loloya Marymount by 31 seconds. Princeton finished its last race in 6:52.7. "By the end of the weekend, we found our speed. We are determined and excited to work on harnessing that speed and moving forward, one race at a time, toward the big races," Nakamaru said. "We have a relatively young squad, and we can only expect to improve as we get more races under our belts."
On Sunday, Princeton's second varsity eight beat Sonoma State's first varsity boat by over 20 seconds, finishing in 7:03.53.
Next Saturday, the team will make its home debut, facing off against Bucknell.
On the men's side
The men's heavyweight crew used spring break to set the pace for the rest of the season. "Spring break was our first week of practicing twice daily, though we're moving into that schedule full time now," senior captain James Egan said.
They will have their first race at home next Saturday against Rutgers.
"We need to get faster each week," Egan said. "This is our first chance to knock heads with an [Eastern College Athletic Conference] opponent. We'd of course like to start out the season with a great performance and a win by each crew."
Both the heavyweight eight and the heavyweight four beat Rutgers when they faced them at home last fall in the Princeton Chase.
The men's lightweight crew traveled down to Annapolis, Md., for their first matchup of the season last weekend, facing Navy. The first varsity and second varsity boats were both defeated by slightly more than a second. First varsity finished with a time of 5:55.17, 1.18 seconds behind their Navy counterparts. Second varsity finished in 6:04.36, 1.49 seconds after Navy. Naswept all four races.
Men's lightweight crew will face Georgetown next Saturday in their first home race of the season.
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