Crew: Tiger crews remain undefeated in 2011

The men raced for the Childs Cup on the Schuylkill River against Columbia and Penn and swept their opponents, while the women defeated Cornell and Harvard on the Charles River.

The women’s open crew (6-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy League), which has won 20 consecutive regular season dual races, swept the varsity eight races. The first varsity boat finished in 6 minutes, 36.8 seconds, defeating Cornell (3-1, 2-1) by almost 10 seconds and Harvard (1-3, 0-3) by almost 12 seconds.

Cornell entered the race ranked 13th in the nation after upsetting defending national champion Yale last weekend. Harvard was ranked 18th heading into the weekend.

The second and third varsity eight also won comfortably, by a margin of nine and five seconds, respectively. The Tigers’ first loss came in the varsity four, which Cornell won by 1.1 seconds. The varsity four is now 5-1 this season.

Princeton was ranked No. 1 in the most recent national poll, capturing 24 of 25 first-place votes. The remaining vote went to No. 2 Virginia.

“Overall, the team was pleased with our performance,” senior Michaela Strand said. “We’ve been focusing on improving each week, and I think [this past weekend] was a step forward for us. Now we are getting ready to go up against Yale, the defending national champion, and Ohio State next weekend. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I think everyone’s excited to see how we stack up against some of the best crews in the country for our last three regular season races.”

The men’s heavyweight crew (2-0, 2-0) showed its early-season strength as well. The Tigers swept all four races against Columbia (2-1, 1-1) and Penn (1-2, 0-2). Princeton, which is currently ranked fifth in the nation, retained the Childs Cup with hard-fought races against its rivals. The first varsity eight boat marginally beat the Lions by three seconds, finishing in 5:28.0.

The second varsity boat matched the victory with an equally impressive effort, beating the Quakers by less than three seconds.

“We’re just trying to keep putting in hard work and building a little speed each day on the water,” senior Blake Parsons said. “We are excited to see such a competitive field in the EARC again this year, and while we’re happy to come away from this weekend with a win, this is still early in the season. We expect everyone to continue to develop speed as the season builds toward the Easter Sprints in May, so at this point it is still all about training hard and working to get the most out of every stroke on the water.”