One team raced the defending champions. Another was able to jet past the leading boat of the race, which had caught a crab and came to a standstill. And still a third sunk the sailors. On Opening Day for the women's open, women's lightweight and men's heavyweight crew seasons this weekend, there wasn't a dull moment.
The women's open team struggled against Brown at Lake Carnegie, while the lightweights had an easier time beating out a large field of competitors at the San Diego Crew Classic. At its season-opening races in Annapolis, Md., the heavyweight team had no trouble beating Navy.
The action began on April Fool's morning as women's open crew took on the No. 1 and defending national champion Brown Bears.
The Bears, however, proved too tough for the No. 7 Tigers. Princeton lost the varsity, junior varsity and both the first and second novice boats, capturing its only win in the varsity four.
"It's a hard opener," head coach Lori Dauphiny said. "Their lineup pretty much hasn't changed."
Dauphiny was alluding to the fact that Brown returned eight of its nine varsity boat members.
Out with a bang
At the beginning of the varsity race, it appeared as if Princeton was unfazed by the Bears as the Tigers started strong with a 44 strokes-per-minute rating and took a commanding full boat lead after the first 500 meters.
At the 500-meter mark, however, Brown countered, taking five seats back from the Tigers. Then in the third 500, Brown mounted an even greater offensive push, breaking even with the Tigers with 600 meters to go and jumping ahead to an eight-seat lead with 500 meters remaining — a lead the Bears would never relinquish. Brown finished just about four seconds ahead of Princeton's time of six minutes, 31.35 seconds.
"I was really impressed with the first half of our race. Our strokes were solid," Dauphiny said. "My only disappointment came in the third 500. There was a point where Brown took too many seats too quickly."
The junior varsity, varsity four and first and second novice boats also looked impressive at the beginnings of their races. But, while the junior varsity and novice boats were not able to counter Brown's offensive pushes, the varsity four matched the Bears' efforts with a drive of their own, winning the race with one length of open water.
Manifest destiny
While the women's open team stayed local, the women's varsity lightweight team headed West to row in the San Diego Crew Classic on Sunday, April 2. The lightweight team, racing Wisconsin, Radcliffe, Villanova, UC-Davis, Humbolt and Cal, won the race in a time of 7:13.73, almost 15 seconds faster than its closest competitor, Wisconsin.
Yet up until the third 500, the race with the Badgers was neck and neck. In fact, coming into the final 500 meters, Wisconsin was about half a length ahead.
Then, in a lucky twist of fate for Princeton, a Wisconsin rower's oar got stuck in the water, causing the Badgers' boat to spin and thrusting it to a stop. Though the Badgers recovered from this disaster, known as "catching a crab," and were able to edge Radcliffe out for second place, the incident allowed the Tiger boat to push ahead and win the race convincingly.
"I think we feel confident about this weekend," junior Sara O'Sullivan said. "We know what we have to work on."
Energizer
The men's heavyweight team, meanwhile, traveled to the Severn River on Saturday in Annapolis, Md., to take on Navy. Like the lightweight team, the heavyweights outlasted their competitors, beating the Midshipmen in every race they entered.
A close race early on, the Princeton varsity boat finally pulled away at the 1300-meter mark. From then on, it was all Princeton. The Tigers increased their lead to a boat-length and then sealed the decision when they stretched it to an open water lead. The Tigers finished with a time of 5:48.99 — almost eight seconds faster than Navy.
"The Navy race was a good race to get under our belts," senior captain Dave Bordeau said. "The guys all rowed well, and we were able to start the season off well."
The second and third varsity teams as well as the first and second novice teams also dismantled the Midshipmen in their respective races. The closest race came in the third varsity boat where the Tigers edged Navy by about two seconds with a time of 6:04.15.
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