All four crews were in action on the road this weekend, representing Princeton in five different events and four different states. On the men's side, the heavyweight team continued its undefeated streak, while the lightweights suffered their first loss. For the women, the open team continued its struggles by falling to No. 4 Yale, though the lightweights were victorious in California.
The heavyweight crew (3-0 overall) remained undefeated by capturing the Childs Cup, the oldest collegiate crew cup in the country, with 11 seconds of breathing room in New York City on Saturday.
The varsity boat sailed past Columbia and Penn to keep the Childs Cup in Tiger hands for the 14th straight year. Last season, Princeton beat Penn by 21 seconds and Columbia by 23. While the margin was a little smaller this year, Princeton's time of six minutes, 7.83 seconds put them well ahead of Penn's 6:18.17 and Columbia's 6:21.93.
"This weekend, all our boats did a good job of executing their race-plans," senior captain Chris Richbourg said, "but there's always room to get better. Win or lose, the goal of getting faster stays the same."
The men's heavyweight freshman boat also won this weekend, with a 6:20.78 time keeping open water between them and Columbia, which finished in 6:27.21 and Penn, which finished in 7:00.73. The second varsity eight finished in second place, losing to Penn by nearly five seconds with a time of 6:30.08.
The lightweight men's crew (4-1) was unable to remain undefeated. It fell to defending national champion Cornell with a loss on the Big Red's home course in Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday.
Cornell took all five races from Princeton and Rutgers and held on to the Platt Cup. Cornell's first varsity boat finished in 6:21.6, with Princeton trailing at 6:29.3 and Rutgers trailing the Tigers by over eight seconds.
The Tigers' second varsity boat was just 1.5 seconds behind Cornell with a time of 6:33.7 and beat Rutgers' time by 26 seconds. The freshmen eight's winning time of 6:24.7 was disqualified because the coxswain raced without weight.
The No. 9 open women also came home empty-handed after slim losses to No. 4 Yale in New Haven gave the Bulldogs possession of the Eisenberg Cup. The Tigers (3-4 overall, 2-3 Ivy League) have suffered a number of losses to top competition this season as they rebuild from last year's national champion team.
Still, they presented tough competition for the Bulldogs. Princeton's first varsity boat's time of 5:59.7 put it just 1.7 seconds behind Yale, and the second varsity boat's finish in 6:11.3 trailed the Bulldogs by just 1.3 seconds.
The teams also raced a pair of varsity four competitions, with the Yale varsity four beating Princeton's time of 6:55.0 by nearly eight seconds. Princeton's sole victory came in the third varsity four boat, whose time of 7:08.2 put it nearly nine seconds ahead of Yale. The Tigers' novice boat also lost, finishing with a time of 7:05.7.
The lightweight women spent the weekend at the Windermere Real Estate Rowing Classic in Redwood Shores, Calif., where the varsity boat won all three of its races.
The varsity boat recorded a victory in its first race Saturday, finishing in 6:58.71 to top the University of Central Florida's time of 7:23.25. The same teams raced last week, with Princeton winning by nearly 20 seconds.
A few hours later, the varsity boat maintained a comparable lead against Loyola Marymount University. The Tigers finished in 7:59.18, with Loyola trailing at 8:20.10. The Tigers faced tougher competition Sunday when they raced Stanford, but their 7:07.09 finish gave Princeton the race with a margin of over three seconds.
Princeton's second varsity boat lost to the University of California Berkeley's third varsity boat by over 20 seconds Saturday with a time of 7:49.28.
The novice eight raced for the Knecht Cup on Cooper River in New Jersey. Their time of 7:14.4 put them in second place, with Radcliffe leading by nearly 12 seconds.
As all four crews come home from this weekend's road trips, the heavyweight and open crew will prepare to defend their home course next week.
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