Crew: Top-ranked lightweights, women’s open crew join men’s heavyweights as victors

The men’s lightweight crew retained the Wood-Hammond Trophy on the Schuylkill River by defeating Penn and Georgetown. Hardly an easy win, the Quakers and Hoyas pushed the Tigers to the end, with Princeton maintaining its perfect season to finish in five minutes, 43.5 seconds, while the Quakers were less than five seconds behind.

“We managed to get ahead earlier in the race and defend what they threw against us,” senior Christian Klein said. “Both crews fought hard and didn’t let us get away. The Schuylkill’s always a little trickier because, unlike our course, they don’t have a straight 2,000-meter stretch of water, so you have to turn at about 600 meters in. We wanted to try to get ahead before then so the turn didn’t affect our momentum.”

The women’s lightweight crew also faced tough competition. The Tigers, who had been defeated by Radcliffe the last time they faced each other on the Charles River in 2009, maintained form to beat their opponent by more than seven seconds with a time of 6:42.6.

The Tigers also defeated Bucknell on Saturday morning, which took third behind Racliffe with a time of 7:03.1.

The win keeps Princeton No. 1 on the latest national poll, topping No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 4 Radcliffe. The victories over Stanford and Wisconsin earlier in the season in Redwood Shores, Calif., marked a decisive move for the Tigers, who are aiming to defeat Stanford and Wisconsin later on in the season at EAWRC Sprints, and Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships.

The women’s open also maintained its perfect season (10-0) with wins over Penn and Dartmouth to retain the Class of 1984 Plaque. Due to predictions of Saturday’s rough conditions, the regatta was originally moved to Friday night. However, due to uneven waters, Penn and Princeton crashed in the varsity four race. The regatta was then moved back to Saturday morning, when the teams had better luck with calmer water. Princeton swept all four races, the closest being the competitive varsity four.

The men’s heavyweight also had to deal with rough conditions at home on Lake Carnegie, where, despite the rain, the Tigers defeated Yale and Cornell in three out of the four races. The first and second varsity eight narrowly squeezed past Cornell to win by three and four seconds respectively. The only loss came in the third varsity eight, where the Bulldogs defeated Cornell and Princeton with a time of 5:58.2.

All of the teams are nearing the championship part of the season. The men’s lightweight will face Harvard and Yale before heading off to EARC Sprints, while the men’s heavyweight face Brown before joining the lightweights at EARC Sprints.

The women are also nearing “Sprints,” which will be held in Cherry Hill, N.J., in mid-May. Both teams will be competing on Lake Carnegie this weekend, with the open crew hosting the reigning NCAA champion, No. 2 Virginia.