Crew: Lightweight men stay perfect

The unbeaten No. 1 men’s lightweights crew team traveled to New Haven, Conn., to face undefeated No. 2 Harvard and No. 4 Yale for the coveted Goldthwait Cup, held by the Tigers following their victory last season. The HYP is one of the most storied races in collegiate rowing, and this year the race did not disappoint. The first-varsity race went off in perfect conditions, and Princeton took a small margin on the other boats off the start. Settling into the base, Harvard and Yale fought back, but Princeton kept its margin. Around the turn at 1,000 meters, Princeton took a move and opened up more space on the two crews. Coming into the sprint, the Tigers made another push and widened their lead. As they crossed the line, Princeton had a dominant five-second lead with a time of five minutes, 47.5 seconds. Harvard finished second in 5:52.7, and Yale placed third in 5:57.2. Princeton held onto the Goldthwait Cup, but the team points trophy, the Vogel Cup, would be determined by the rest of the races.

“The varsity race was a solid piece against two great boats,” senior co-captain Tom Paulett said. “We are happy with the result of this weekend but are focused on gaining some more speed both as a boat and as an entire squad.”

Princeton’s second varsity battled it out in an evenly matched race. All the boats finished in a five-second block, but it was Yale who came out on top in a time of 5:56.5. Harvard placed second in a time of 5:58.9, and Princeton came in soon after in a time of 6:01.3. In the third varsity race, Yale was again the winner with a time of 5:59.1, while Princeton, which rowed with a heavyweight sub in place of an injured rower, came in third in 6:19.0.

In the freshman race, Harvard missed a turning buoy and was disqualified, but Yale won again in 5:58.4, while Princeton finished in 6:03.5. The lightweight men will travel to Worcester, Mass., on May 10 to compete in Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints.

The open women traveled to Philadelphia to compete with Penn for the Class of 1984 Trophy. Princeton has won the cup every year since the race was started in 1984. The first varsity lined up on the Schuylkill River against Penn and Dartmouth, which is ranked two spots lower than the Tigers nationally. Princeton took a few seats off the start and had a powerful first 1,250m. Around the turn, Dartmouth kept in touch with Princeton, but ultimately the Tigers could not be caught. They extended their lead through the last section of the race and won with a time of 6:37.3. Dartmouth came in second in a time of 6:43.1, and Penn placed third with 6:54.3.

Princeton took five boats in total to the Schuylkill, and each came home victorious. The Princeton second varsity won in 6:49.0, beating Dartmouth by 3.2 seconds, and Penn came in third, three seconds behind Dartmouth. The varsity four finished in 7:36.2, beating Penn by 5.8 seconds and Dartmouth by 7.8 seconds. Princeton’s coxed varsity B four finished with a time of 7:48.6, beating out Dartmouth and Penn by 13 seconds and 26 seconds, respectively. Princeton’s coxed varsity C four finished in 8:09.5, beating Penn by more than 45 seconds.

The lightweight women traveled to Boston to race Harvard for the Class of 1999 Cup. In a close varsity race, Princeton fell to Harvard by four seconds. Harvard’s winning time was 7:25.1, while Princeton finished in 7:29.4. The Princeton varsity four started the racing with a win for the Tigers. They finished in a time of 8:37.9, which defeated three Harvard crews. The top Harvard four finished in 8:47.7, followed by the other two Crimson boats at 8:52.5 and 9:47.2. The varsity finished the regular season with a 5-2 record. Now they have two weeks to prepare for Eastern Sprints in Camden, N.J., the anticipated conclusion to the spring season.

The No. 14 heavyweight men traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to face No. 12 Yale and No. 9 Cornell. Cornell was untested coming into the race. In the varsity race, Cornell proved its power and finished first in a time of 5:47.7. Yale came in second in a time of 5:53.6, and Princeton, which has been in a slump lately, came in after the Bulldogs in 5:56.9.

In the second-varsity race, Princeton started down on the field, and Cornell quickly made use of this advantage. The Big Red pushed out in the first 500 meters, but Princeton remained composed and fought back in the body of the piece. Coming around the turn, the Tigers narrowed Cornell’s margin, and in the last 500 meters, the Tigers made a final push to pull even. Princeton was taking ground with every stroke, and it came down to the last 100 meters. Eventually Princeton ran out of room, and Cornell squeaked by in half a second. Cornell’s wining time was 5:47.8; Princeton came in with 5:48.3, and Yale finished third in 6:00.1.

The Tiger third varsity was competing for second with Yale, but Yale squeaked out a tenth-of-a-second win. Cornell’s winning time for the third varsity race was 6:04.0, and Yale placed second in 6:11.7. In the freshman race, Princeton placed third with a time of 6:00.1, while Yale won with a time of 5:52.7, and Cornell came in second with a time of 5:52.9. The heavyweight men will face off against Brown this weekend in the Content Cup.