Crew: Lightweight crews edged in weekend races

The lightweight women’s varsity eight rowed in the final on Sunday, competing for the Ludus Tours Cup, where it took second to Stanford, just as it did last year in the IRA championships. Stanford finished the 2000-meter contest in 7:26.79, while the Tigers finished in 7:33.79. The University of British Columbia finished third, 10 seconds behind Princeton, and Stanford’s second boat took fourth.

Last year, Stanford finished second to the Tigers in the first weekend of the season before winning IRAs. The second-place finish for the Tigers in San Diego this year should motivate them to beat the Cardinal in the future.

The Tigers continue their season in Lewisburg, Pa, where they will take on the Bucknell Bison next Saturday. After a weekend free from racing, the women’s open squad will also return to competition next Saturday when it competes at home on Lake Carnegie for the Class of 1975 Cup with Harvard, Columbia and Cornell.

On Saturday, both the lightweight and heavyweight men raced on the Bud Smith Race Course on Lake Carnegie. The heavyweights opened their season by beating Georgetown and Syracuse with victories from all boats. The varsity eight won its 2000-meter race in 6:11.8, seven seconds ahead of second-place Syracuse. The second boat narrowly beat the Orange with a time of 6:19.6 to Syracuse’s 6:20.9. That time also beat Georgetown’s top boat, which finished in 6:25.4. The first boat of freshman eight won in 6:24.8, with Syracuse again finishing second. Finally, the third varsity boat and the second freshman boat took first and second in their race with times of 6:38.8 and 6:42.3, respectively. After the 2K, all boats participated in some shorter intervals.

The heavyweights will again row on Lake Carnegie next weekend, this time against Penn and Columbia in a battle for the Childs Cup, the oldest trophy in all of college rowing. Princeton and Penn are currently tied with 44 Childs Cup victories apiece.

After defeating Navy last weekend on the Potomac River, the lightweight men’s first varsity eight took on Georgetown and Columbia in contention for the Fosburgh Cup. Georgetown won the race, which was held at Lake Carnegie, in 6:17.9, while the Tigers took second in 6:20.9 and the Lions were third in 6:24.7. The second boat, which lost to Navy last week, fared better on Saturday, defeating both Columbia and Georgetown with a time of 6:29.0. The Tiger freshmen were also victorious that day, taking the shirts off the backs of the Lions and Hoyas by finishing in 6:32.0.

The lightweights have next weekend off before battling for the Platt Cup at home against Cornell on April 14.