Tigers prep for National championships

Success in the Ivy League is exciting, but a victory on the national level is something else entirely. After yet another season as one of the top Ivy League teams, the men's and women's crew will challenge the rest of the nation at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) and NCAA championships in May and June.

On the men's side, both heavyweight and lightweight crews will compete at the IRA National Championship, which begins May 30 on the Cooper River in nearby Camden, N.J. After last weekend's Eastern Sprints Championships, the Tigers have an opportunity to improve their times before the all-important regatta.

Princeton's heavyweights will bring two varsity eight boats, one freshman boat and several other small boats to the IRA. Last weekend, the Tigers attempted to defend their title at the Eastern Sprints but came up with a fourth-place finish, missing a medal by only a tenth of a second.

"The Sprints final was a tight race, and we expect things to get tighter with the addition of some tough West Coast crews at the IRA, so we'll need to be ready," senior Chris Richbourg said.

At the IRA last year, the Princeton heavyweights seemed poised to claim victory after taking the lead over a tight pack of boats, but California responded and forced the Tigers to settle for silver.

As for the lightweights, Cornell took the 2006 men's title, while Princeton finished in third. This year, the Tigers will try to build on the momentum of a bronze finish at the Eastern Sprints, as they hope to top last year's third-place IRA finish.

The women's open crew team was invited to the NCAA Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Fresh off a bronze medal at the Eastern Sprint Championships last weekend, the Tigers will bring two eight-boats and one four-boat.

Eleven other teams, including Ivy League rivals Harvard and Yale, will match Princeton's boats, while four at-large bids will each bring an eight-boat to round out the 16-team field.

The three-day affair begins May 25, which gives the Tigers plenty of time to refuel after the Eastern Championships.

"We have two weeks to get as much speed out of our lineup as we can," senior captain Carrie Kruse said.

Princeton came into the competition last year as favorites and didn't disappoint, winning its first championship since 1995. This year, though, the Tigers don't have quite the same stranglehold over the rest of the field.

California is typically at the top of the standings; in 2005, it claimed first place over runner-up Princeton, and it once again fields a strong team this year. Meanwhile, the University of Tennessee figures to be competitive and take advantage of its home field — or rather home river — as it hosts the Championships.

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Still, it's impossible to count out the Tigers in the quest for the title.

"We're going into Nationals as the underdogs, so it'll be fun to see what we can do," Kruse explained.

The lightweight women will join the men at the IRA in an attempt to race their way onto the medal stand and improve on last year's fourth-place finish.

At last weekend's Eastern Sprints, defending IRA champion Wisconsin sped ahead of Princeton to earn gold, while the Tigers picked up the silver medal. The race put a blemish on Princeton's 7-0 regular season women's lightweight record, but the Sprints set the stage for revenge, as the Tigers aim to get even by upstaging the Badgers at the IRA in June.

Though none of the men's and women's crews could claim a gold medal at the Eastern Sprints, they continue to show up on the medal stands, and the NCAA and IRA championships present a golden opportunity for a couple of Tiger upsets.