New millenium. Same old story. Princeton continued its crew success, garnering its second women's lightweight National Championship and finishing in second, third and sixth place in men's lightweight, men's heavyweight and women's open, respectively.
The women's lightweight crew perhaps had the biggest shoes to fill, as it looked to defend its national title — a title that came only two seasons after women's lightweight crew became a varsity sport at Princeton.
"We know that we are competitive with the other boats," head coach Heather Smith said.
In fact, Princeton was one of the teams to beat and the season evolved into a two-team battle between the Tigers and Wisconsin for the top spot in the East.
Cruisin'
Princeton sailed past the Badgers early in the year, defeating them in the San Diego Crew Classic on April 2 after Wisconsin caught a crab in the contest. The Badgers soon returned the favor, beating the Tigers by about two seconds later in the sesaon season. Princeton, however would not let Wisconsin get the better of it again, edging the Badgers by one second to take the Eastern Sprints title May 14 and convincingly defeating fifth-place Wisconsin along with a host of other schools to win the national championship June 3.
With the loss of seven seniors and the temporary replacement of head coach Curtis Jordan — who took a year off to coach the Olympic team — with Chris Nilsson, the men's heavyweight crew faced probably the most adjustments of any Princeton crew team as it looked to defend its 1999 Eastern Sprints title. These changes, however, did not bother the Tigers as Princeton cruised by its competitors early in the year.
"Coach Nilsson has done a great job in making us row much better, technically," senoir captain Dave Bordeau said. "Guys have really stepped up."
The heavyweights found tougher competition, losing to Harvard in Cambridge under terrible weather and altered racing conditions.
Though Princeton showed its poise, rebounding to beat Cornell and Yale two weekends later, it could not withstand a tough Brown squad, losing pace with the Bears at Lake Carnegie and again at Eastern Sprints, en route to a second-place finish in the field.
At the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, Princeton finished an impressive third, just 0.37 seconds behind Brown and only about five seconds behind a heavily favored Cal team.
Dennis
Brown also proved a menace for the women's open crew squad. Facing the Bears in the season opener, Princeton lost by four seconds after leading early in the contest.
"I think it's all how we interpret the Brown race," captain Kristen Bartges '00 said afterwards. "We can use it to make us a lot tougher and a lot stronger and if we do that, we can be a force."
The Tigers did just that, going undefeated until Eastern sprints with impressive victoires over schools such as Radcliffe, Yale and Virginia.
Yet even with this momentum, Princeton could not defeat the Bears, finishing third behind them and Radcliffe at Eastern Sprints and sixth at the national championships — won by Brown.
After starting impressively with wins over Cornell, Penn and Navy, the men's lightweights knew a strong season lay ahead.
"We were pretty much in the driver's seat," Scott Dias '02 said of the race against Penn and Navy.
The lightweights faced tougher competition during a midseason stretch as they fell to both Harvard and Yale in New Haven, Conn. Princeton pulled itself together, however, to defeat Georgetown in the Tigers' final home race of the year. After a fourth-place finish at Eastern Sprints, the lightweights showed their ability to bounce back once more as Princeton took second at IRAs, just 0.15 seconds behind Yale.
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