Sunday, May 14
Worcester, Mass.
TBA
Princeton University
vs
Eastern Sprints
Players Mentioned
/ Heavyweight Rowing
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
Heavyweight 2V Wins Gold At Sprints; Varsity Claims Bronze
May 14, 2017 | Heavyweight Rowing
The Princeton heavyweights made an impressive surge to a gold medal in the 2V grand final at Eastern Sprints, but the varsity eight wasn't able to match that result during the final race of the day on Lake Quinsigamond. While the 1V couldn't quite pull into the final duel between the higher-seeded Yale and Harvard boats, Tiger head coach Greg Hughes left pleased and invigorated by the potential of the next three weeks before the IRA national championships.
"I thought that was our best race," head coach Greg Hughes said. "It was a good, gutsy race, and it was everything we had. Harvard and Yale were fast, and we tried to hop on to the train. I thought we had a great piece. We had no regrets."
Princeton ended the 2017 Sprints with four medals: one gold (2V) and three bronze (1V, 3V, 4V). It marked the third straight year that Princeton has medaled in the top three finals, and the second straight year it medaled in the top four.
The varsity boat had its work cut out for it to cap that performance, because Boston University made a hard charge at Princeton over the final 500. Yale took control of the race over the first 500 and put water between itself and both Harvard and Princeton. The Crimson worked its way back into the race and threw a major challenge at the Bulldogs, though Yale held on for its third straight league crown.
The young Tiger boat, which had three freshmen in its V8, kept the heat on, but they couldn't match the speed of the two leading crews. They showed their poise by answering a late Terrier challenge to finish in 5:36.397, which would be just over .1 of a second ahead of Boston University for a medal.
While the medal may not have been the color the Tigers desired, Hughes believes it was a good reward for a squad that has persevered through plenty over the last two months.
"This is coming up on my 20th year of coaching, and you think you've seen it all," Hughes said. "But we've faced some tough challenges, obstacles this year, and we faced them head on. We made it through, and I think it set us back a few weeks. For me, as a head coach, the one thing I may not have recognized was how amazing a role that senior class last year played in the speed of our 1V. People had to learn new roles this year, in multiple boats. I think today was an amazing step forward for the entire team. We beat boats, or we were significantly closer to boats, they we lost to earlier in the year. That gives us a lot of momentum."
No boat will take more momentum from Sprints than the 2V, which reversed earlier losses to both Harvard and Yale to win its second EARC Trophy in the last three years.
"That was an all-time performance," Hughes said. "They took a couple lumps early in the year, but in the last 10 days, they started to show things that were really impressive. There was a sense that something special was coming. It was truly awesome. You recognize how important some people are. That's Franco D'Agostino's third Sprints championship in three years. Winning Sprints once is really different. Medaling at Sprints is difficult. Winning three times in a row is a special talent. He was the only senior in that boat, so for that to be his last Sprints race, it was really cool to see."
While the majority of the important people were the rowers Sunday, Hughes was also sure to recognize the efforts of rigger Steve Hujber, whose work with all Princeton boats may be unknown to most fans. His efforts throughout the season, and especially in some rough conditions in Worcester over the weekend, play a significant role in the success of the program.
They'll certainly be called upon again, because a road trip to Worcester will seem like nothing in three weeks. Princeton will compete for the IRA national title in Sacramento, Calif., in three weeks.
Varsity Eight
1 Yale 5:30.700
2 Harvard 5:31.142
3 Princeton 5:36.397
4 Boston University 5:36.528
5 Dartmouth 5:38.777
6 Brown 5:40.626
Second Varsity Eight
1 Princeton 5:35.573
2 Yale 5:38.030
3 Boston University 5:38.232
4 Harvard 5:41.177
5 Cornell 5:43.550
6 Brown 5:43.696
Third Varsity Eight
1 Harvard 5:37.026
2 Yale 5:39.000
3 Princeton 5:42.812
4 Brown 5:44.123
5 Wisconsin 5:48.467
6 Northeastern 5:49.028
Fourth Varsity Eight
1 Harvard 5:43.168
2 Navy 5:45.731
3 Princeton 5:46.248
4 Boston Univ. 5:46.263
5 Brown 5:52.473
6 Dartmouth 5:58.649
Fifth Varsity Eight
1 Wisconsin 5:50.891
2 Navy 5:52.678
3 Navy 6V 5:58.883
4 Brown 6:02.050
5 Princeton 6:11.122
6 Harvard 6:13.921
"I thought that was our best race," head coach Greg Hughes said. "It was a good, gutsy race, and it was everything we had. Harvard and Yale were fast, and we tried to hop on to the train. I thought we had a great piece. We had no regrets."
Princeton ended the 2017 Sprints with four medals: one gold (2V) and three bronze (1V, 3V, 4V). It marked the third straight year that Princeton has medaled in the top three finals, and the second straight year it medaled in the top four.
The varsity boat had its work cut out for it to cap that performance, because Boston University made a hard charge at Princeton over the final 500. Yale took control of the race over the first 500 and put water between itself and both Harvard and Princeton. The Crimson worked its way back into the race and threw a major challenge at the Bulldogs, though Yale held on for its third straight league crown.
The young Tiger boat, which had three freshmen in its V8, kept the heat on, but they couldn't match the speed of the two leading crews. They showed their poise by answering a late Terrier challenge to finish in 5:36.397, which would be just over .1 of a second ahead of Boston University for a medal.
While the medal may not have been the color the Tigers desired, Hughes believes it was a good reward for a squad that has persevered through plenty over the last two months.
"This is coming up on my 20th year of coaching, and you think you've seen it all," Hughes said. "But we've faced some tough challenges, obstacles this year, and we faced them head on. We made it through, and I think it set us back a few weeks. For me, as a head coach, the one thing I may not have recognized was how amazing a role that senior class last year played in the speed of our 1V. People had to learn new roles this year, in multiple boats. I think today was an amazing step forward for the entire team. We beat boats, or we were significantly closer to boats, they we lost to earlier in the year. That gives us a lot of momentum."
No boat will take more momentum from Sprints than the 2V, which reversed earlier losses to both Harvard and Yale to win its second EARC Trophy in the last three years.
"That was an all-time performance," Hughes said. "They took a couple lumps early in the year, but in the last 10 days, they started to show things that were really impressive. There was a sense that something special was coming. It was truly awesome. You recognize how important some people are. That's Franco D'Agostino's third Sprints championship in three years. Winning Sprints once is really different. Medaling at Sprints is difficult. Winning three times in a row is a special talent. He was the only senior in that boat, so for that to be his last Sprints race, it was really cool to see."
While the majority of the important people were the rowers Sunday, Hughes was also sure to recognize the efforts of rigger Steve Hujber, whose work with all Princeton boats may be unknown to most fans. His efforts throughout the season, and especially in some rough conditions in Worcester over the weekend, play a significant role in the success of the program.
They'll certainly be called upon again, because a road trip to Worcester will seem like nothing in three weeks. Princeton will compete for the IRA national title in Sacramento, Calif., in three weeks.
Varsity Eight
1 Yale 5:30.700
2 Harvard 5:31.142
3 Princeton 5:36.397
4 Boston University 5:36.528
5 Dartmouth 5:38.777
6 Brown 5:40.626
Second Varsity Eight
1 Princeton 5:35.573
2 Yale 5:38.030
3 Boston University 5:38.232
4 Harvard 5:41.177
5 Cornell 5:43.550
6 Brown 5:43.696
Third Varsity Eight
1 Harvard 5:37.026
2 Yale 5:39.000
3 Princeton 5:42.812
4 Brown 5:44.123
5 Wisconsin 5:48.467
6 Northeastern 5:49.028
Fourth Varsity Eight
1 Harvard 5:43.168
2 Navy 5:45.731
3 Princeton 5:46.248
4 Boston Univ. 5:46.263
5 Brown 5:52.473
6 Dartmouth 5:58.649
Fifth Varsity Eight
1 Wisconsin 5:50.891
2 Navy 5:52.678
3 Navy 6V 5:58.883
4 Brown 6:02.050
5 Princeton 6:11.122
6 Harvard 6:13.921
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