Women's Crew: Women look for EAWRC victory

Last May, the lightweight women went down to the wire in a tight finish against Wisconsin. In the end, the Tigers crossed the line in 6:42:12 for second place, just .78 seconds behind the Badgers.

This year, they return to the Cooper for a second chance.

“We are racing four other schools,” senior captain Madeline Davis said of Wisconsin, Radcliffe, Georgetown and MIT. “Wisconsin is the defending national champion. They beat us at this race last year by less than a second, which has obviously left a rather bitter taste in our mouths.”

Earlier this season, the women’s lightweight crew prevailed in matches against MIT and Bucknell, as well as in the Class of 2006 Cup at Georgetown. On April 25, they lost the Class of 1999 Cup at Harvard.

Davis said the team has been “really happy” with its season thus far.

“We’ve had a very patient and consistent development over the season in terms of speed and technique, so we feel that we’re peaking at the right time,” Davis said.

“We’ve had a lot of time to focus on our rowing and make some good progress,” Davis added of the last few weeks. “We are optimistic that we are at where we need to be right now.”

Women’s open crew

After finishing the season 8-2 (6-1 Ivy League), the open crew finds itself seeded third in all three major races of this year’s championships. They are likely to face stiff competition from reigning EAWRC and Ivy League champion Brown and reigning NCAA champion Yale.

But the team does have some reason for optimism. In each of the last two years, the Tigers have defeated both Brown and Harvard during the regular season, and came up just short against Yale.

On Sunday, Princeton will race in a heat with Harvard, Cornell and Penn. The Tigers will need to finish in the top two if they want to qualify for the grand final. A win in that semifinal heat would earn the Tigers an improved lane in the final.

Last year, the open crew faced Brown, Yale and Harvard in the final round — and it’s likely those same four teams will make it back again this year. Brown has not lost a race since the Tigers’ season-opening victory against the Bears in March.

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Last May at the EAWRC, the women’s open crew finished its grand final in 6:31.11, good for fourth place.

This season, the women’s open crew team prevailed in events against Rutgers and Columbia and captured the Class of 1975 Cup as well as the Class of 1984 Plaque. They came up short in a race against Yale for the Eisenberg Cup.

On June 6, the squads will travel to Sacramento, Calif., to compete in the IRA Championships.

Past successes

After its second-place finish to Wisconsin at last year’s EAWRC Championship, the lightweight team went on to place fifth in the IRA final.

“The IRA final was of course a big disappointment, but we do not dwell on it,” lightweight head coach Paul Rassam ’97 said in March. “Our focus is forward-looking, with our main motivation stemming from the opportunities in front of us.”

Eastern Sprints is unlike the other small-scale dual meets held throughout the season. Teams first race in the morning’s preliminary heats, and qualifying teams move on to the afternoon’s grand finals based on their placement in the heats.

Last year, all of Princeton’s 1V boats made it to the afternoon, but the program showed true depth when its other teams also competed at the top of the league. The open women’s novice eight, varsity four and novice four boats all qualified for their grand finals. Preliminary races were not held for lightweight women.

The open women’s novice eight also showed promise, taking the silver in its event with a time of 6:49.98. The Tigers’ N4 women placed third in the grand final just behind Columbia and Penn, and the V4 finished fifth in its race. Though the open women’s 2V did not make the grand finals, it won the petite finals by 10 seconds in 6:48.28.