Men's lightweights top Midshipmen

After an intense week of practice over spring break, the men's lightweight crew and women's open crew launched their spring seasons over the weekend.

Both teams hosted regattas at home on Lake Carnegie, with the men challenging Navy and the women facing both Brown and Ohio State. The men's first varsity eight and first freshman eight successfully won their races, while the women's first varsity eight fell to both the Bears and Buckeyes, with the Tigers' only win coming from the varsity four.

"The meet was exciting," sophomore lightweight Alex Dillon said. "Navy usually has early speed because they start practicing in July and are pretty good by this time. We really just started the racing season."

Though the first varsity boat's win may be attributed to the athletes' strength, the varsity eight also saw six returning varsity athletes this year. With only two sophomores joining the team, the boat's experience in rowing together for over a year helped the team defeat the Midshipmen by nearly a full boat's length, with Princeton finishing at six minutes, 7.7 seconds and Navy at 6:09.9. Similarly, the freshmen eight's win over the Midshipmen — 6:15.7 to 6:21.4 — bodes well for the rest of the season.

"This serves as a great foreshadowing of the season," Dillon said. "Navy is one of the biggest competitors and they are usually the benchmark ... To have the freshmen beat their freshmen is really good and is promising for their season."

The early regatta did not go as well for every Princeton boat. With only a couple months of practice under its belt, the second varsity eight is still working on team chemistry.

"We are still improving every time we go out there and race," Dillon said. "It's just a matter of getting race times logged in. We're still trying to figure things out. We are a relatively new boat with guys who haven't rowed together."

Despite their inexperience together, the second eight remained competitive, finishing the 2000-meter race in 6:14.8, a little over three seconds behind the Midshipmen.

While the men's first eight were fortunate to have a high number of returning veterans, the women's open varsity eight were not blessed with same fortune.

After capturing the 2006 national championships last year, the team lost several strong members and is working hard to integrate newcomers into the top boat. With the preseason plagued by poor weather, forcing the rowers to train indoors, this early season opener against top-10 rowing powerhouses Brown and Ohio State proved to be a challenge.

The Princeton women fell in four of five races against the two schools, claiming their sole win in the varsity four at 8:05.8, topping Brown by nearly 10 seconds and Ohio State by 14.

The varsity eight was unable to achieve a similar victory. The Bears, who placed second in the NCAA competition last year, defeated the Tigers with a time of 6:52.8. Ohio State followed at 6:57.4, and Princeton placed third in 6:59.9. The second varsity eight also placed third.

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Though falling to two strong opponents, Princeton still has a lot more time to improve team cohesion and lower its times. With Eastern Sprints still almost two months away, the Tigers look forward to increasing their intensity and defending their 2006 national title.

Next weekend the team will have another opportunity to compete when it travels upstate to race against Rutgers and Columbia.