Crew conquers Carnegie

To say that the crews had a good weekend would be an understatement. No, none of the rowers were at the Street on Saturday night, but their performance on Lake Carnegie on Sunday at the Princeton Chase regatta was nothing short of dominant.

Traditionally considered two of Princeton’s best programs, the men’s heavyweight and lightweight crews teams collected six first-place finishes on the weekend. The men’s freshman lightweight boat finished third. The women’s open crew won two of three races.

The crews raced a three-mile course that began at the far end of the lake and finished near the Washington Road Bridge. The boats started one at a time, in 15-second intervals according to their finishing position at the end of last season. Some boats caught up to the boat in front of them during the race, but often it was difficult to keep track of which boat was making the best time.

“Its always a bit nerve-wracking to know you beat one crew but not know about one further back in the pack,” senior men’s lightweight captain Jack Leonard said.

After finishing first among collegiate crews at the Head of the Charles regatta in Cambridge, Mass., last weekend, the lightweight men’s team went into this weekend looking for a win. Leonard noted that, though Princeton has been the top collegiate finisher at the Charles in recent years, the crew has failed to follow up with a win on its home course.

“It’s been a tough race the past couple years, because we had a target on our backs,” Leonard said.

The lightweights found themselves in a similar position to prior years, but produced a different result this time. The eight-man boat pushed to a first-place finish over perennial rival Harvard, who came in second, and third-place finisher Navy. In the men’s lightweight varsity four, the podium looked exactly the same.

“To win the eight and then win the four again was just amazing,” Leonard said.

The men’s four consisted of junior coxswain Mike Perl, junior Robin Prendes, Leonard, senior James Donovan and junior Christian Klein. All four of those rowers also rowed on the eight-man boat that won earlier in the day.

The men’s heavyweight crews also won both the eight- and four-man races. The competition in each race was tight. In the eight, Princeton won by less than three seconds, and second-place Yale beat Columbia by less than two. The top three teams in the four finished within four seconds of each other, with Princeton edging out Syracuse for the lead and Yale rounding out the podium.

Though the heavyweight team struggled last year, it has high expectations for the spring season.

“While [Sunday’s] result was very good, it is only the beginning. We cannot afford to become complacent and lose track of the big picture,” senior heavyweight captain Mike Gilson said.

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Gilson and senior Brad Werntz were the only two rowers to row for three winning boats at the regatta.

The open women matched its third-place finish of last weekend in the varsity eight category at the Head of the Charles with another third place at the Chase. The Tigers crossed the line about 15 seconds behind first-place Yale and runner-up Virginia, but handily beat fourth-place Brown by nearly half a minute.

In both the novice eight and varsity four, however, the Tigers dominated the competition with wins of 12 and 26 seconds, respectively.

The Princeton Chase did not hold any races in the women’s lightweight division, but that did not stop the Princeton crews from competing. The lightweight crews of Princeton, Georgetown and Radcliffe all competed in the open-division races.

“We performed well against some tough crews and competition that beat us last weekend at the Charles,” senior women’s lightweight co-captain Justine Hausheer said. The lightweight women lost to both Georgetown and Radcliffe at the Head of the Charles but beat both of those crews at the Chase.

The women’s lightweight teams fared well overall against the normally faster open crews. In the varsity eight race, Princeton placed 12th out of 55 boats. The Tigers finished fourth overall in the four behind two Princeton boats and a Syracuse crew.

Junior co-captain Lauren Sykora said she was encouraged by the weekend’s results.

“Our performance today indicated that we have reasserted our dominance over our traditional rivals, ending our fall racing season strong and confident,” Sykora said.

The Princeton crew teams head into winter training confident in their abilities and with high expectations for success in the spring season.