Frosh get time to shine at the Belly

Orange Key guides will invariably tell prospective students all about Woodrow Wilson's many contributions to the University. One legend they often don't tell is that during Wilson's tenure as president, the University asked Andrew Carnegie for funds to help build the preceptorial system. Instead, Carnegie decided to give Princeton a lake. Wilson was purported as saying, "We asked him for bread, and he gave us water."

Whatever misgivings Wilson had, the famed Princeton crew is certainly grateful to the legendary steel-man — not to be confused with a character played by Dean Cain '88. Princeton has made good use of the lake, hosting multiple regattas during the spring and fall racing seasons. The last race of the crews' fall season is, in fact, named for its home site. The Belly of the Carnegie is an all-freshman race in head style, meaning the race is three miles long, instead of the shorter, two-kilometer spring races.

This year's Belly of the Carnegie was Sunday, and the Tiger boats did remarkably well. There were only three races Sunday, a heavyweight men's race, a lightweight men's race and an open women's race.

The heavyweight men entered two boats into the regatta. Each boat had a mixture of experienced rowers and neophytes in an attempt to keep the boats as evenly matched as possible.

The Princeton coaches certainly met their goal of balancing the two boats' skill levels. Both boats had five experienced rowers and three novices, though the B boat also had a novice coxswain. The Tigers' A boat finished the race less than two seconds faster than the B boat, which finished in 13 minutes, 55.85 seconds. For the Tiger freshmen, these results were certainly a great way to start their collegiate rowing careers.

"For the novices, this was their first taste of true competition, and they did a great job of staying calm and giving a 100 percent effort," freshman Brad Werntz said. "Before the race our coach, Marty Crotty '98, told us to see how far we could push ourselves during the race, and when we were tempted to let up, instead push ourselves even harder. Digging deep in this way is not easy, but everyone in both boats seemed to take Marty's words to heart."

The third-place finisher in the heavyweight race was Navy's A boat, coming in with a time nearly nine seconds slower than Princeton's B squad. It is important to consider the style of the regatta when discussing the results. As a head race, the start of the Belly of the Carnegie is staggered, and the last boat to launch could actually win the regatta if it turned in a fast enough piece. While boats are competing against each other, rowers cannot tell whether they are in the lead.

Take the women's race for example. Radcliffe's lightweight women won the regatta by a margin of less than two seconds. Their bow number, or launch position, however, was 17 higher than Princeton's open boat.

Despite the upset, freshman open coach Helen Betancourt was happy with the result.

"Overall I was pleased with the result, however, I would have preferred to finish first," Betancourt said. "I don't like to lose."

Though unfortunate, the loss was understandable. With two novices in the boat along and only a week of practicing together, the crew was bound to struggle against a Radcliffe boat which has been training together for several weeks.

"The race was solid, however, with a few of the rowers racing for the first time, Betancourt said. "There was more nervous energy than normal which affected the rhythm. We had a small tangle with Dartmouth, hitting oars as we passed through the bridge and that rattled some of the less experienced rowers as well."

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Inexperience also plagued the lightweight Tiger women. Though the crew came in second for lightweight boats in the race, they were passed by Radcliffe after 500 meters and their piece took nearly 20 seconds longer than the Crimson's.

"It was a good piece overall, obviously we weren't completely satisfied, but for the timespan we had to work in to train, we accepted it," freshman stroke Justine Hausheer said. "Throughout it felt very good, it was a step up from what we'd been doing in practice."

The men's lightweights didn't see the same success as the heavyweights or the open crew. The A boat placed fifth with a time of 13:57.63, while the B boat finished nearly 16 seconds later for 10th. Navy's B boat won the race.

Despite not having a first place finish, the 2006 Belly Bowl, awarded to the school whose crews combine for the lowest composite time, went to Cornell. Penn finished as the runner-up and Georgetown took third.

The Belly was a fitting close to the fall crew season. A mix of great success and room for improvement marked the Tigers' performance at both the Head of the Charles and the Princeton Chase. Now the rowers are taking mandated time off and will resume practice this winter in order to prepare for the spring season.