Correction appended
The men’s lightweight crew team finished its undefeated season June 6 with a national championship at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Regatta.
The national title was the team’s first in 11 years, and it came on the heels of its Eastern/Ivy League championship May 10. The squad became only the fourth Princeton team in program history to win both major championships.
“A lot of credit goes to the guys,” then-head coach Greg Hughes ’96, who was a member of the last team to win both titles, said in a statement. “They did a fantastic job of staying focused through graduation and a lot of other things.”
“We mixed it up since Easterns and did a lot of small boat rowing; we didn’t row for eight weeks,” Hughes continued. “It allowed us to treat it like we were preparing for another season. They had their sights se on this race and they didn’t take it for granted.”
Princeton led the field of seven boats from the start with an opening split more than two seconds better than any other team. Princeton stayed ahead through the second split as well, leading second-place Harvard by more than 3.5 seconds. The Yale Bulldogs charged past Harvard to take second place, but they crossed the finish line more than four seconds after the Tigers.
“We had all the physical components you need to win, but there’s intangibles as well,” Hughes said. “There is attitude and personality of the guys. How you approach the good and bad, and how you come together. Whatever they did, they did it right. It’s a tall order in this league to have a perfect season, and it’s a real testament to these guys.”
Other finishes at IRA Nationals
The men’s lightweight team was not the only Princeton squad who made the trip to California for the IRA Regatta.
After taking second place at the EAWRC championship in mid-May, the women’s lightweight team plaxed sixth at the championships, behind Wisconsin, Bucknell, Stanford, Radcliffe and Georgetown. Though Princeton led Georgetown halfway through the race, the Bulldogs pushed through at the end to take the fifth spot.
The women’s open crew also took sixth place at Nationals after its third-place finish at the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges (EAWRC) championships.
At one point during the championship race, the team sat in third place. But in the last 1,000 meters of the race, the squad slipped three places to sixth.
For the men’s heavyweight crew, its only medal at the IRA championships came in the varsity four, though the team added wins in the freshman eight petite final and the varsity eight third-level final.
The varsity four and open four both made it to the grand finals, where Princeton picked up the bronze.
The varisty eight, which was ranked 17th nationally coming into the tournament, finished 13th overall in the C-level final.
Correction:
An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the Yale Bulldogs as the EARC champions, in fact the Bulldogs placed fifth.
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