Silver and bronze for Princeton

It appears that there is such a thing as home-water advantage. A year after Princeton's men's heavyweight crew seized the Eastern Sprints title from long-reigning Harvard, the Crimson reassumed its throne in Worcester, Mass., last Sunday. Princeton, meanwhile, was shut out from the medal stand by less than a tenth of a second.

"We could have rowed a better race, [but] at the same time it was extremely competitive," men's heavyweight head coach Curtis Jordan said. "They did everything I asked of them."

The Tigers enjoyed a virtuoso performance in last year's race, but the graduating Class of 2006 took many of the team's strongest rowers. Without a battle-tested crew, Princeton performed admirably but ultimately lost the bronze medal to Wisconsin. After the race, however, Jordan was pleased with his boat's performance.

"One of the reasons I'm pleased with this performance [is that] we've got a young team, with only two guys back from that [2006] boat," Jordan said.

Harvard finished first in the race with a time of five minutes, 27.01 seconds. The floaters from Yale secured the silver medal when their boat came in at 5:29.20.

The photo finish came as the Tigers and the Badgers battled for third place, a contest from which Wisconsin emerged victorious with a time of 5:30.24. Princeton finished .08 seconds later.

While the men's heavyweight crew has been in state of flux, the lightweight group was nearing peak form. Last year, the first boat was full of talented newcomers but did not place among the top finishers. This year, however, the group came in with confidence.

"They learned a lot last year, and they knew they had the speed to do it," men's lightweight head coach Greg Hughes said.

Princeton enjoyed a good start, but found itself in an incredibly strong group — all six contending boats were level through the first 1,000 meters. The Tigers enjoyed a strong second thousand, pulling hard to finish with a time of 5:41.14. For their efforts, the crew earned a bronze medal. Hughes traced the team's success to the rowers' greater maturity.

"They improved a lot over last year, having the experience to make the final and the confidence to do that," Hughes said.

Princeton earned another bronze medal when the women's open crew took third place in its grand final. The race's victor, Yale, had a strong time of 6:28.60, besting second-place Brown by nearly four seconds.

The Bulldogs established a lead early in the race, claiming pole position by the 500 m mark and never relenting. Halfway through the race, Yale and Brown were in first and second, but the Tigers trailed Radcliffe by a few seats.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Princeton demonstrated superior endurance in the final thousand, however, pulling level with Radcliff by the 1,500 m mark and then surging ahead in the final 500 m to claim third place.

"I thought it was a solid race, and I was pleased the crew was able to move from fourth position to a bronze," women's open head coach Lori Dauphiny said. "Yale and Brown set a fast pace early on and proved to be very impressive."

Last year's first eight could be considered one of the best collegiate boats of all time, a distinction awarded to them in an article in The Rowing News. Dauphiny, while hesitant to compare this year's group to last year's, was quite pleased with her new rowers.

"They've been coming along each week this season and did a nice job at Sprints," Dauphiny said.

Princeton's best finish, however, came in the women's lightweight final. The Tigers have been dominant this year in the lightweight division, with an undefeated record heading into Sprints. Unfortunately for Princeton, its primary opponent — Wisconsin — was also perfect coming into Sprints. In a dramatic showdown, the Tigers gave a strong effort but fell to the Badgers.

Princeton's time of 7:04.13 was more than three seconds faster than third-place Georgetown, which finished in 7:07.53. With that race, the Tigers left Boston with three medals and the drive to do even better next year.