Crew: Men's lightweight sets record pace

It was cold and cloudy in Cambridge, Mass., on Sunday as the crews returned to the water in force, navigating the winding Charles River for the annual Head of the Charles Regatta. Princeton sent a total of eight boats to the event: one entry in each of championship men’s eight, women’s eight, men’s four and women’s four, and two entries in both lightweight men’s eight and lightweight women’s eight.

Although the championship season does not begin until the spring, the Head of the Charles unofficially marks the beginning of a new year of competition after a long summer of training. The race gives the Tigers an early feeling for where they stack up in relation to rivals and perennial powerhouses like Harvard; Yale; University of California, Berkeley; and University of Washington.

The format of the regatta was a head race: Boats started in succession at regular intervals, and the winner was determined by the total amount of time to complete the race. This is different from the side-by-side racing format that is used during the spring season.

The lightweight men’s eight set a blistering pace, taking an average of 36 strokes per minute in the straight portions of the course. It finished the race in 14:09.921, 15 seconds ahead of second place Harvard. Such a large margin of victory is virtually unheard of in a head race with so many entries.

Because of a collision with Penn’s boat near Eliot Bridge, the men’s heavyweight team lost its shot at finishing highly.

“We were closing on them, and as they turned to get out of the way, we hit their stern,” sophomore Michael Evans said of the collision. Penn’s boat turned askew in the river, bringing Princeton’s boat with it and disrupting the crew’s momentum.

“It was disappointing,” Evans said. “We are looking forward to next weekend when we can show them what we actually have.”

The men’s heavyweight eight eventually finished the 3.2-mile race in 14 minutes, 32.148 seconds, though Evans estimated that Princeton lost at least 20 seconds due to the collision.

Princeton’s entry in the championship women’s eight took first in a flight of 30 boats, blazing from start to finish in 15:48.314 and beating second-place Virginia by nearly 10 seconds. The women also vanquished rival Yale, which finished in 15:58.467.

“We had Yale and University of Washington in front of us and University of Virginia behind us,” junior coxswain Lila Flavin explained. “It’s all about coming together as a boat. Everyone was able to focus and relax and get it done.”

The women’s four finished sixth of 20 in 18:07.503, and the men’s four placed fifth of 15 in 16:17.504.

The lightweight women’s eight took second in its flight behind Wisconsin, with a time of 16:28.831.

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The crew program will host the annual Princeton Chase next Sunday on Lake Carnegie, where it will compete against many of the same schools. The regatta will have sweeping and sculling events for boats as small as singles and as large as eights.