Women off to Eastern Sprints

Across the Delaware River from Philadelphia is Camden, N.J. A half-hour drive from Princeton, Camden is home to the Eastern Sprints crew regatta, the second most important race of the season.

Both the lightweight and open crews go into Sunday's regatta with No. 1 rankings and high hopes.

Head coach Lori Dauphiny's open crew is excited for the races, which serve as the Ivy League championship regatta as well. This season has been a good one for the crew. For the second season in a row, the Tigers come into Sprints undefeated. But last season, Princeton didn't leave that way.

"We're taking nothing for granted, and we're excited and motivated," Dauphiny said.

The team has a lot to be excited about. Margins are wider now than they were last year, though margins don't necessarily mean anything since they can be greatly affected by conditions.

Fortunately for Princeton, the open crew is experienced in all conditions, and doesn't favor headwinds over tailwinds, for example.

"The conditions are something that you can't control whatsoever," Dauphiny said. "We tend not to worry about them so much."

If the conditions aren't a worry, though, the competition could be.

The tigers come into the regatta with a No. 1 seeding in the varsity eight, the novice eight and the varsity four, along with a No. 3 seed for the second varsity.

The varsity eight, which has won all of its races by impressive margins this season, will be on the lookout for No. 2 Brown and No. 3 Yale at the regatta this weekend. Beyond the two obvious competitors, however, are a host of other contenders.

"There are always unknowns," Dauphiny said. "[Sprints are] somewhat of a whole new ballgame, a whole new chance to go up against teams you have beaten or lost to."

The very experienced crew, full of seniors looking to avenge last year's upset loss to Yale, has a lot of enthusiasm to give their best performance at Sprints. Though the team hasn't raced the Camden course this season, Princeton is familiar with it from years past.

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Princeton will enter Sprints as the clear favorite, and they hope to use their experience to win a championship on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Sunday is the second time this season the lightweight crew heads to Camden in search of a win. The Tigers came in second at the Knecht Cup to Radcliffe on April 9, a race that was also held at Camden. Princeton will be in a very similar situation as they were at the Knecht Cup this weekend.

Seeded No. 1 in all of the races, the Tigers are the favorite as they have defeated Radcliffe, Wisconsin and Georgetown, the other highly competitive crews at Sprints, this season.

Head coach Paul Rassam feels optimistic about winning the regatta since the team is rowing its fastest, but is not overly confident.

"We don't anticipate any sort of cakewalk," Rassam said. "We expect a really tough race between [Radcliffe, Wisconsin and Georgetown]."

Unlike the open crew, the lightweights have no preliminary heats to feel out the opposing crews, so there is a lot more pressure on the rowers since an important championship is on the line.

There is no question that the varsity eight will have the toughest race Sunday. The boat has undergone a lot of changes during the season due to illness and injury, so the team has only really had the last few weeks to solidify. Fortunately for the Tigers, they have come together and are putting up good numbers.

Winning Sprints has been a goal for both crews since the beginning of the season. Both crews have been working hard to be at their best for the regatta, because there is a lot on the line for the crews.

"[It's been] a great season," Dauphiny said. "I couldn't ask for more in terms of racing well and learning from experience and coming together as a team."