Crews seek to reclaim past glory by capturing national championships

Youthful. Deep. Hungry. These are the adjectives that describe Princeton crew this season. Though the crew programs have undergone changes in their lineups, they are all hoping to win national titles.

The men's heavyweight team has endured the most drastic revamping. When head coach Curtis Jordan taking the year off to coach in the Olympics, Chris Nilsson took the reins of the team. The Tigers will also miss the experience of seven of last year's seniors.

"Coach Nilsson has done a great job in making us row much better technically," senior captain Dave Bordeau said. "Guys have stepped up to fill the spots of people we lost."

The heavyweights will need this technical strength if they are going to compete with Brown, which looks to be their toughest competitor in the East. The team races the Bears in early May and could face them again at Eastern Sprints, where they beat the Bears last year.

Last weekend against Navy, the heavyweight team seemed like it was right on course, dominating the Midshipmen in every race. The Tigers will again test their power this weekend against Rutgers on Saturday at Lake Carnegie.

"As a result of our success in the past few years, we focus on the same goals each year," Bordeau said. "First, winning Eastern Sprints, and second, winning a national championship."

The lightweights are equally optimistic for a strong season. Like the heavyweights, the lightweight team won Eastern sprints last year. In fact, the lightweight team also won the championship in 1998 and looks to continue its string of strong performances over the last two years.

With that goal in mind, the lightweights have been working intensely. Training hard in the winter months was especially key this season because the team was kept off the water due to bad weather.

Having graduated five varsity members and many key racers on the junior varsity and third varsity boats, the lightweight team hopes to receive strong performances from its younger members in addition to the returning veterans.

"Our senior class has really stepped it up," senior Joe DiNorcia said. "Everyone is really focused on making improvements."

The lightweight crew team will test these changes on Lake Carnegie this Saturday in its first race of the year against Georgetown.

Perhaps the most surprising Tiger performance last season was the lightweight women's national championship, which came only two seasons after the team reached the varsity level. This year it looks like the Tigers have all the necessary parts to repeat last year's impressive season. After graduating five rowers from the varsity boat, the lightweights have a talented group of sophomores in addition to a strong pair of seniors.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"We know that we are competitive with the other boats," head coach Heather Smith said. "I have a bit more depth this year."

Standing in the Tigers' path are Wisconsin, Villanova and Radcliffe — teams the Tigers will race this weekend at the Villanova Invitational in Camden.

"Villanova was slow at our race in San Diego," Smith said. "They will, however, be faster as the season progresses."

While the men's heavyweight and women's and men's lightweight teams look to defend their past championships, Princeton women's open intends to take a step forward and beat No. 1 Brown at Sprints and at the national championships.

"I think everyone wants to win it all," sophomore Cathy Marsella said. "We're at the point now where we decide either we want it or decide to let it go."

Like all the crew boats this year, the women's open team graduated a substantial number of racers. But in addition to a strong sophomore class, the team has drawn on two freshmen, Lia Pernell and Sasha Suda.

In its first race of the season, Princeton battled the team that stands in its path — Brown. Though the Tigers lost the race, they stayed with Brown for much of the contest. Princeton will be able to use this confidence Saturday against Rutgers and Columbia on Lake Carnegie.

"I think it's all how we interpret the Brown race," senior captain Kristen Bartges said. "We can use it to make us a lot tougher and a lot stronger and if we do that, we can be a force."