Crew: Women's 1V wins gold at NCAAs

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The women’s open crew’s first varsity boat dominated its 2011 season from start to finish. It capped an undefeated season on Sunday by claiming the gold medal in the grand final at NCAA Championships on Sunday, beating the field by 1.5 seconds.

Brown won the NCAA team title with strong showings in the second varsity and varsity four races.

The first varsity boat won all 13 of its regular-season races, with its smallest margin of victory coming by 2.5 seconds over the Bears in its season opener at Lake Carnegie. Princeton was dominant again at EAWRC Sprints, thrashing Brown by four seconds and the rest of the field by double digits and claiming the Ivy League title.

The Tigers finished second in their semifinal qualifying race on Saturday, comfortably sealing a position in Sunday’s grand final in Sacramento, Calif. Princeton opened the race well and held a small lead in the early stages, but California came back to gain a small edge at the 1,000-meter mark.

Undeterred, Princeton rallied to blow away from the field in the home stretch. The Tigers finished in six minutes, 27.12 seconds, 1.5 seconds ahead of second-place Brown. The Bears edged Stanford by five-hundredths of a second to capture the NCAA team championship.

The victory is the second 1V championship in program history. The Tigers also claimed the title in 2006.

Princeton entered the weekend as the favorite to win the team championship, but its hopes were derailed by Saturday struggles. The second varsity boat, which had also been undefeated to that point, finished a very close fourth to University of Southern California in the semifinals, missing a spot in the grand final by .04 seconds. The varsity four also failed to qualify for the grand final after winning the EAWRC Sprints, finishing one second behind third-place Washington in its semifinal race.

On Sunday, Princeton’s 2V and varsity four boats each took third place in the petite finals. The Tigers finished fourth in the team rankings with 72 points, 13 behind the Bears.

Brown, which did not win a single Ivy League title, is the only school in the conference to win an NCAA championship this season.