Lightweights capture Class of 1999 Cup

With 250 meters to go in the race and the crowd looking on intently, the buoys on Lake Carnegie went from being white to red, the fans began to cheer and the end of the race came into sight for the rowers. When the women's lightweight crew entered this final stretch, archrival No. 1 Radcliffe was seven seats behind them, a position they had been in since the third 500 meters of the race. Despite its best attempt, the Crimson was unable to launch a successful push, and the No. 2 Tigers earned the upset by a margin of 3.2 seconds amid cheers and screams from Princeton fans.

In what head coach Paul Rassam called the "best race of the season," the lightweights took the Class of 1999 Cup and possibly Radcliffe's No.1 ranking, while the open crew finished their regular season with a sweep of their own over Tennesee, Massachusetts and George Washington.

Princeton's lightweight crew was hungry to redeem losses from the first half of the season. The Crimson entered the season ranked third behind Wisconsin and the Tigers but climbed to second after defeating Princeton for the Windermere Cup March 25 and then took the top spot after defeating both the Tigers and the Badgers at the Knecht Cup April 9. But the Tigers did what they had set out to do Saturday and took the Class of 1999 Cup in seven minutes, 22.2 seconds.

Though the fours race was much less exciting for the fans, it was no less important to the coaches than any other that took place that day. The Princeton B boat took the race by a margin of 9.2 seconds.

"I think [it was] one of those instances where the boat clicked about five to seven hundred meters into the race," Rassam said. "You know they hadn't had many strokes together, they clicked, and they found some speed and they found their confidence and they were able to put the race away fairly comfortably after that."

The novice eight also won its race, defeating Radcliffe by a margin of 10.5 seconds.

Open 1V stays undefeated

Though the open crew's first varsity race was much less exciting than the lightweights' 1V race, the results were no less satisfying. Winning by a margin of 22 seconds over Tennessee, the Tigers (14-0) ended the regular season on a high note. Saturday's landslide victory was the 36th in a row for the program and gives Princeton its first 14-victory season and second perfect season.

The second novice eight chalked up another win in their race as well, crossing the finish line 29.2 seconds before Massachusetts, giving the Tigers their second of four victories at the regatta.

Princeton's A boat won the varsity fours with ease, taking a strong lead by the halfway point of the race and maintaining it to finish in 7:53.6. Princeton's B boat took third behind the Lady Volunteers, a position it held for most of the race.

Princeton's second novice four rounded out the openweights' victories, taking the Minutewomen by storm. Finishing in 8:27.3, the boat enjoyed a margin of 38 seconds, the team's largest of the regatta.

Princeton's only loss on the day came from the second varsity eight in a very close race. Tennessee took the race by a margin of two seconds, the closest finish of the day. Princeton also entered the novice eight into the 2V race to render them eligible for the NCAA championship. The boat finished well ahead of the other boats in the race, though its supremacy over the field did not affect the outcome of the regatta.

Now the crews are looking forward to the Eastern Sprints. After the team faced a barrage of illness and injury this year, Rassam is eager for his crew to take two weeks to really get settled into the lineups, while the open crew looks to continue to drop time in preparation.

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"We hope to build off this win and find some more speed," Rassam said. "We need to make sure that we don't get complacent and we need to make sure that we go even faster week to week."