Varsity crew bears down, beats Hoyas

“There was a lot of wind, which made it a difficult day to row, slowing some boats down and relatively speeding other boats up in the later heats,” junior Brian Ebke said. “Furthermore, the rapidly changing conditions made it tough just to get into the boat. That is where our coxswains come in. Our coxswains did a great job, handling our boats and keeping the boats straight, allowing us to work hard and beat Georgetown. And perhaps more importantly, they kept us dry on a tough day; a swim in Lake Carnegie is not a desirable thing, at least for the crew team.”

High winds, in addition to slowing down the boats, put a great deal of pressure on the coxswains, the lightest men in the boats. If the rowers are the engines of the boat, the coxswains are the brains behind the boats. They steer the boats and keep them balanced, avoiding devastating time penalties. A smart coxswain can save his team precious seconds, so under windy conditions the coxswains’ role becomes even more important.

In a surprise, the second varsity heavyweight boat beat Georgetown’s first varsity boat by three seconds. After a great year in 2006, the Tigers are looking to rebound from a rough 2007. The 2V boat, which shows the depth of Princeton’s crew program, especially struggled. This year is a different story for the heavyweights, who have gained a great deal of depth with the addition of this year’s sophomore class to the varsity ranks.

“[The spring training trip in Tampa, Fla.] was productive but just great fun,” Ebke said. “And it was just nice to be outside. But more importantly for the team, all the boat spots were still open after Tampa. Normally it is obvious who the top rowers are, but this year there is more parity in a good way. … Beating our opponent is our always primary goal, but with so many guys having close times this year, every time we are out on the water, we are trying to race against each other, which only pushes us to go faster.”

Thus, the heavyweights are excited for a much more competitive spring season, during which they will launch their national championship run.

While the heavyweight crew raced on the friendly waters of Lake Carnegie, the lightweight men traveled to Navy. And it seemed that the sea gods were on Navy’s side this week. Navy’s varsity lightweights edged the Princeton lightweights by .3 seconds, not even a shell’s length. Navy finished with a time of 5:52.0, with the Tigers right behind at 5:52.3.

“We faced a great Navy squad on Saturday who took the best that Princeton had in each race and came up wins,” junior Tom Paulett said.

The Navy Midshipmen came back in the last meters to take the inaugural Murtaugh Cup, named after former Princeton rowing coach Joseph Murtaugh. A strong tailwind and choppy race conditions made for a fast race, but it was still a tricky race day because of balancing issues. The lightweights return home next weekend to face Georgetown.