Crew: Strong start in spring season's first races

The women hosted Brown, the defending NCAA champion, and Michigan on Princeton’s home course. The first varsity women defeated Brown by open water but fell short to a strong Michigan boat that won by about a length.

The second varsity women were also defeated by Michigan, and Brown edged them out in a close race as well.

The men’s lightweights then hosted Georgetown in their first sprint race of the spring.

After a winter of hard work, a powerful freshman boat dominated the race and defeated Georgetown by open water with a time of six minutes, 20.5 seconds.

In the second varsity race, Princeton got off to an early lead while the Georgetown boat kept in contact the entire race.

With only a length on the Hoyas coming into the last 500 meters, Princeton fought to hold its lead as Georgetown made a final push to regain lost ground. In the last 200-meter stretch, the Hoyas went for broke, but they could not pass Princeton’s powerful second varsity, which preserved its lead and won by one second in a time of 6:20.3.

With the Fosburgh Cup on the line, the first varsity crews lined up at the start.

The crews were even off the start, but an early move by Princeton after just 250 meters pushed the Tigers ahead by four seats.

Princeton continued to widen its lead straight through to the 500-meter mark, posting an impressive split time of 1:24 for the first quarter.

The Georgetown crew could not keep up with this blistering pace, and by the 1,000-meter mark, Princeton had opened up water on the Hoyas.

The field continued to widen throughout the next 500 meters, and by the 1,500-meter mark, Princeton had managed to post two incredible splits of 1:32 and 1:31 for the second and third 500-meter stretches, respectively.

With the sprint in sight, the Princeton crew executed a composed and powerful sprint, finishing in a time of 6:01.7 and leaving the Georgetown crew to finish five-and-a-half seconds later.

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Though the third varsity race was changed to an exhibition race at the last minute after a Princeton lightweight fell ill and Georgetown had to reuse a rower from itssecond freshman boat, Princeton banded together and commanded the race.

In the end, Princeton defeated Georgetown handily by an impressive 18-second margin to sweep the competition on all levels.

Heavyweight crew scrimmaged Georgetown and Trinity in three 1,500-meter pieces in the morning and several smaller pieces in the afternoon.

The first start was performed like that of a normal race, and all the crews executed their starts well.

After the first 250 meters, however, the Tigers showed the other two crews what they were made of, as they settled and pulled away.

The first varsity powered their way to the lead, leaving Georgetown and Trinity to compete for second place.

After the 1,000-meter mark, Princeton had a length on the Hoyas and Bantams. In the last 500 meters, both crews fought hard to gain ground, but the Tigers did not yield, finishing a length over the competition.

The next 1,500-meter stretch was a floating start, but this did not change the cards Princeton held. Again, the varsity finished the piece a length over Trinity, and Georgetown fell back to third by a length-and-a-half.

For the last 1,500-meter piece, the Tigers, showing no sign of exhaustion, again maintained a length lead over Georgetown and a length-and-a-half lead over Trinity.

Princeton showed just how deep its power was, as the second and third varsity as well as the freshman boat finished first in their respective races.

The lightweight women’s team traveled to California last weekend to compete in the Pac-10 Challenge.

In their first race on Saturday, the Tigers lost by three seconds to Wisconsin, the defending Eastern Sprints champions.

Later that afternoon, the Tigers beat the California lightweights by a large margin, and in their last race, on Sunday morning, the Tigers defeated Stanford by two seconds.

For all the Princeton crews, the results of this weekend showed a lot of promise for the rest of the spring season.

The heavyweight crew will spend next weekend in San Diego, Calif., competing in the San Diego Crew Classic while men’s lightweight crew will host the Murtaugh Cup at Lake Carnegie. Both women’s lightweight and open crews will hit the road to face Rutgers and Columbia in Piscataway, N.J.