Having not won the Childs Cup for 45 years, the Lions were especially eager to beat the Tigers and set a determined pace in the early going. In the 2,000-meter sprint race, Princeton was behind Columbia after the first 1,000 meters, and the Tigers and Lions matched stroke for stroke for nearly the next 900 meters. The strong headwind and bumpy conditions on the Schuylkill made for a fast but turbulent race day, perhaps equalizing some of the differences between Princeton and Columbia.
In the last few strokes, with the finish line looming, Princeton was able to pull out another win, edging the Lions out by a single second. The race ended with two fast times: Princeton finished with a time of five minutes, 50 seconds, while Columbia crossed the line at 5:51.1.
The performance was a dramatic improvement for the Lions. Last year, Columbia trailed the Tigers by almost 15 seconds.
It appears the No. 17 Lions will have to wait another year to unseat the reigning champions. As Columbia takes up the old Brooklyn Dodgers’ rallying cry, “Wait ’til next year,” it appears the Quakers might need a few seasons of practice to catch up. With a time of 6:06.9, Penn finished a full 16 seconds behind the Tigers.
The 2V heavyweight oarsmen finished ahead of the Lions, only to be disqualified from the race after an interference judgment. The coxswain steered the 2V boat across Columbia’s lane when going under the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, resulting in the call against the Tigers.
In the final race of the day, the novice eight outpaced Columbia by a solid 13 seconds, finishing in 6:11.8 compared to the Lions’ 6:25.0. The Penn freshman eight finished at 6:33.1.
The novice boats in these races are generally composed of freshmen, as rookie rowers are not typically strong enough to stroke for the first varsity; in fact, it used to be an Ivy League rule that freshmen could not compete at the varsity level. A strong freshman boat is a good sign for Princeton crews to come and possibly portends future Childs Cup victories.
The lightweight men did not race this weekend after posting a strong performance on April 5, defeating Georgetown and Columbia to defend the Fosburgh Cup
The heavyweight oarsmen head to Boston next week to race MIT and the No. 3 Harvard Crimson, and the lightweights will be back on the water racing Cornell and Rutgers on Lake Carnegie.
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