Crew: Top crews sweep weekend races

The women’s and men’s lightweight crews are both ranked first in the nation and both swept all the races they entered Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie.

The men’s lightweight crew (2-0) raced Georgetown and Columbia simultaneously in the annual Fosburgh Cup under fair skies on cold, flat water and finished with a time of 5 minutes, 58.7 seconds, edging out Georgetown by 3.8 seconds and Columbia by 13.5 seconds.

Princeton took an early lead and held it for the duration of the race.

“I was pleased to see a good start which gave us six to eight seats and then very even splits across the race course,” head coach Marty Crotty ’98 said.

The men’s lightweight crew has won the national title the past two years and the team has already begun to put its wealth of experience to use this season.

“We have great senior leadership on our team, starting with our [senior] captain Robin Prendes and followed closely by senior coxswains Mike Perl in the first varsity eight and Erin Rosenbaum in the second varsity eight,” Crotty said. “Mike and Erin have seen it all and know how to adapt quickly in difficult situations.”

The team also took first in the second varsity eight race, the novice eight and the second novice eight.

The men’s lightweight team will head to Ithaca, N.Y., next week to take on Cornell in the Platt Cup.

The women’s lightweight crew (4-0) had no trouble handling Bucknell and MIT Saturday morning. They finished with a time of 7:02.8, beating the Bisons and the Engineers by 16.1 seconds and 39.6 seconds, respectively.

The women’s lightweight crew has had a strong start to its season, as opening-weekend victories over Wisconsin and defending national champion Stanford vaulted the Tigers to No. 1 in the national rankings. However, the team said it is cautious not to become complacent.

“We’re definitely still working on improving throughout the season, as there’s always room to continue to train and get faster,” senior Lauren Sykora said. “The competition is going to continue working hard, so we need to keep the focus and motivation to do the same.”

The second varsity lightweight women’s boat also took first in its flight. The women’s lightweight team will not race again until April 16 when it heads to Washington, D.C., to face Georgetown.

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The No. 1 women’s open crew (2-0) was the only team not rowing at Lake Carnegie on Saturday. The team instead faced Rutgers and Navy on the Raritan River in New Brunswick, N.J.

Conditions on the Raritan were almost identical to those on Lake Carnegie.

“The weather for our races was chilly with a tail wind and tail current,” sophomore Astrid Wettstein said.

Rutgers’ course on the Raritan River is staggered, which makes it difficult to tell whether any team took an early lead.

“It was really important to have a focus on getting the momentum building in the boat regardless of which crew was starting up,” Wettstein said.

Rutgers and Navy proved no match for the Tigers, who finished in 6:26.1.

Princeton also won the second varsity eight, the varsity four and the novice eight.

The women’s open crew will return to the Charles River in Boston next weekend to face Harvard and Cornell in the Class of 1975 Cup. This time will be the team’s first race on the Charles since its victory in the Head of the Charles last fall.

The No. 4 men’s heavyweight crew raced Georgetown and Syracuse in what was officially recorded as only a scrimmage, but the team appeared eager to use the race as a learning opportunity.

“This early in the season, we’re still developing our race plan,” sophomore Mike Evans said. “Nothing is set in stone yet, and I’m sure things will change depending on who our opposition is.”

Syracuse led the race with Georgetown in second for the first 500 meters, but Princeton stayed close enough behind to seize the lead in the second part of the race.

“In 15 strokes, we went from being down half a boat length to being up half a boat length,” sophomore Brian Wettach said. “Instead of them pushing away from us, we made them realize that they needed to catch us.”

The men’s heavyweight team’s first varsity eight went on to finish with a time of 5:48.6, and Syracuse and Georgetown finished at 5:55.1 and 5:56.5, respectively.

The second varsity eight, third varsity eight and novice eight also finished first.

The men’s heavyweight crew will compete in its first official race next week in Philadelphia when it participates in the Childs Cup against Penn and Columbia.