Women's rowing looks to future challenges after strong start to season

After successful weekends of competition, the lightweight and open women’s crew teams now look to further challenges as they prepare to compete in the Class of 2006 Cup against Georgetown and the Eisenberg Cup against Yale and University of Southern California.

The lightweight crew team spent the past weekend at West Windsor, where they competed against a broad range of teams in at the Knecht Cup Regatta. There, one boat claimed a gold medal in the open fours challenge, while Princeton’s 4A boat also took home a bronze medal in the lightweight four event. The competition, which consisted primarily of small boat racing, proved different to what the lightweight team had previously experienced, so Princeton coach Paul Rassam believed that the team’s strong performances boded well for the future.

“The plan for this weekend was to do something different, to focus on small boat racing and the power and technical elements that small boat racing demands,” he noted. “The athletes performed really well and enjoyed themselves. All five fours battled hard, sometimes in very challenging conditions.”

The Tigers will have an off weekend this week but return to competition when they take on Georgetown at the Class of 2006 Cup here at the University. Princeton won last year’s edition of the event, defeating the Hoyas with a winning time of 6:23. The lightweight team holds a 13-0 record in the series.

Meanwhile, their open counterparts will be facing Yale and USC in the Eisenberg Cup, to be held at Lake Carnegie this weekend. The team also saw success this past weekend, sweeping both Cornell and Harvard at the Class of 1975 Cup. Princeton dominated the competition, with its varsity team winning the three-way competition in a time of 6:23.5 — more than nine seconds ahead of the Crimson and a whopping 16 seconds before Cornell crossed the line.

This weekend, the Tigers will face a tough competitor in Yale, whose openweight crew team is currently ranked fifth in the nation. USC, their third competitor, will be no mean opponent, either: the Trojans are currently ranked eleventh, only two spots behind No. 9-ranked Princeton. Needless to say, the weekend’s regatta will prove to be a huge test for the team as it works its way deep into Ivy League competition. The Tigers have thus far topped conference rivals Harvard, Cornell and Columbia, falling only two(to?) third-ranked and Ivy League-leading Brown. This weekend’s matchup with Yale will go a long way to determine Princeton’s place in the continued race for the Ancient Eight crown.

Freshman Charlotte Moss commented on the challenges presented by Princeton’s opponents.

“Overall, Yale is a fast crew and have had good results this season, so we're looking forward to square up against them,” she observed. “Since USC isn't in the northeast, we don't really race the same crews [so] it will be exciting to race them. We're expecting a strong performance out of them. This is one of our most important races as it gives us an opportunity to see how we match up against a top-tier Ivy League school as well as a big NCAA school. We're hoping to continue to improve our strength and duke it out with other crews.”

The race is set for 9:00 a.m. EST on Saturday.