Crew: After stellar 2010 seasons, crews aim for another strong spring campaign

“The first race of the season is always a good way to test out lineups and see where we stand this time of year,” senior open weight Ashton Brown said in an email. “Because weather is so variable we can’t really rely on times to test our speed. We’ve been doing a lot of racing within the team and it’s been pretty competitive between our [first varsity] and [second varsity], but it’s always exciting to see how we compare to other teams. For this weekend we want to come together as a team and hopefully win across the board.”

The women’s open crew was ranked eighth at the start of last season but shot up the list with wins in all six regular-season meets. The Tigers finished third in the NCAA Championships and head into this season with the No. 2 ranking, boosted by an impressive showing in the fall season. Defending national champion Virginia is the only team forecasted to be better than Princeton this year.

The high expectations for the Tigers will be tested early, as they welcome No. 5 Brown and No. 8 Michigan State to Lake Carnegie on Saturday. But Princeton will have only one more meet at home this season — a dramatic change from 2010, when five of their six races were on familiar water.

“It’s nice to be able to race at home, but for most of the race we’re away from spectators,” Brown said. “The biggest difference about being away is not having the comfort and familiarity with the race course. Not all race courses are buoyed, so that makes the coxswain’s job a little more difficult when we’re away. But at the same time the away trips are a lot of fun and a great chance to bond as a team.”

The women’s lightweight crew won the bronze medal at last season’s IRA National Championships and travels west this weekend to take on the two teams that placed ahead of it in that meet: Stanford and Wisconsin. The Cardinal took first place, upsetting the Badgers by four seconds.

Stanford and Wisconsin also dealt Princeton its only regular-season losses last year. The Tigers lost only two seniors from last year’s boat.

The men’s lightweight crew is coming off consecutive IRA Championships and is looking for a third this season. It too faces a strong test in its 2011 opener, hosting Navy — which placed second in last year’s championship meet.

In the fall season, Princeton dominated at the Head of the Charles, setting a course record by more than 12 seconds with a time of 14 minutes, 9.92 seconds.

"I'm just excited to start racing," sophomore lightweight Tyler Nase said. "We train really hard for a majority of the year preparing ourselves for these races."

The men’s heavyweight crew is the only group that does not begin competition this weekend. It starts its season next week with a home meet against Georgetown and Syracuse.