Crew: Open women, heavyweights win events

After defeating Georgetown and Syracuse last weekend in an exhibition race, Princeton’s heavyweight men opened up their championship season by battling Columbia and Penn on the Tigers’ own Bud Smith Memorial Race Course Saturday for the Child’s Cup, the oldest championship trophy in collegiate rowing.

The Tiger first varsity boat took the cup for the 13th time in the last 14 years, finishing the 2,000m in a time of 6:27.3. With the win, Princeton broke a tie with Penn for the lead in the all-time Child’s Cup series. Princeton has now won 45 Child’s Cups to Penn’s 44 and Columbia’s 12.

“The squad raced hard in some very challenging course conditions,” head coach Greg Hughes ’96 told GoPrincetonTigers.com. “It’s an honor to win the Child’s Cup and to see Princeton move into the lead for all-time wins.”

Princeton’s first freshman boat posted the fastest time of the day, finishing 12 seconds ahead of Penn to win the freshman race in 6:23.6. The second varsity eight also won its race in a time of 6:40.5. The second freshman boat took the only runner-up finish for the Tigers on Saturday, losing to Penn by a mere three seconds. Overall, Hughes seemed satisfied with the Tigers’ performances.

“It was a solid day for our Princeton crews,” Hughes said.

The heavyweight men look to continue their success next weekend at the Charles River in Boston, where they will take on Harvard, the top team in the Ivy League and in the nation.

The open women’s team, No. 4 in the nation, defeated Harvard, Columbia and Radcliffe on Saturday, winning the Class of 1975 Cup and remaining undefeated in Ivy League competition. The varsity eight, the defending national champions, took its 2000m race in a time of 7:14.1. Columbia took second in the first boat race, just five seconds behind, but Princeton’s second boat had the second fastest time of the day. That Tiger vessel finished in 7:16.9 to win the second varsity eight race. Princeton’s third varsity eight and first varsity four also won their races, with times of 7:38.5 and 8:05.4, respectively, and the Tigers’ second varsity four finished third with a time of 8:59.5, 29 seconds behind the winner.

“Despite the difficult conditions, the women’s team rowed well today,” head coach Lori Dauphiny said. “There was intense racing this morning with a couple photo finishes,” Dauphiny said. “The rowers did a nice job.”

The open women will row on Lake Carnegie again next weekend for the Eisenberg Cup against Yale and Southern California.

The lightweight women’s varsity eight lost to Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., on Saturday. Bucknell finished the 2K in 7:16.0, while Princeton’s top boat finished in 7:19.2. Despite the loss, head coach Paul Rassam pointed out positive moments of the Tigers’ performance against the Bison, who beat Princeton at the IRA championships last year.

“I was pleased with the way we worked back from a pretty large early deficit to make the race very competitive through the middle 1000m. Hats off to Bucknell,” Rassam said. “They deserved the win. Our crew is eager to learn from the race and continue to make forward progress.”

Princeton also entered a freshman novice lightweight boat in the race, which rowed tough in a losing effort to an openweight freshman boat from Bucknell, Rassam noted.