Princeton University Athletics
Men's Lightweights Hope New Coach, New Blood Lead To Old Result: Success
March 23, 2006 | Men's Rowing - Lightweight
March 23, 2006
PRINCETON - Racing is racing, and Greg Hughes has been incredibly successful coaching racers. The former Princeton heavyweight novice coach took over the men's lightweight program during the offseason, and he knows it could be a special season for the program. Hughes certainly knows what special seasons are like for the lightweights, considering he led the program to two national championships as an undergraduate.
"It's cool to be back with the lightweights," Hughes said following a Thursday morning practice, two days prior to his spring debut as the head coach. "I know what these guys are going through. It's a little different than coaching the heavyweight freshmen, since these guys have already raced collegiately. We're not starting from scratch here."
A program with a history of success is coming off a disappointing 2005 season, when it failed to reach the grand final at Eastern Sprints and didn't send a top boat to the IRAs. That kind of year pushed the Class of 2006, especially captain Prentice Stabler, to a dedicated offseason of workouts.
"This senior class gets a lot of credit for its leadership," Hughes said. "They trained hard during the winter. We still have a lot of work to do, but we have a solid base for a strong spring.
"Prentice pushed himself harder than anybody," Hughes added. "When you lead with that kind of performance, it's a good thing."
The senior class knows that the 2006 season holds both numerous possibilities and great opportunities. There is no dominant power in the league this year, meaning a boat that works hard and comes together at the end of the season has as good a chance as anybody else at Eastern Sprints.
"We'd rather have a strong, successful finish to our season than a quick start in the first weeks and nothing at the end," Hughes said. "Our goal is the Sprints. Everybody wants to win the varsity race, but we also have our eyes on the Jope Cup, which goes to the overall points title. We have enough talent here to make a run at it." Hughes would know what it takes, considering his heavyweight freshmen were part of the Rowe Cup title Princeton won last season at Eastern Sprints.
Those freshmen weren't the only ones to make a strong showing at Sprints. The 2005 freshmen, under the guidance of Scott Alwin, finished second at Easterns, and seven current sophomores are either in the first or second varsity boats this weekend. During this weekend's season opener at Navy, sophomores Solon Aposhian, Taylor Washburn and coxswain Sarah Sherman will be in the first varsity boat.
Their spots, like several of their current teammates, are from from secured.
"It's early in the year and I had to pick a top boat, so I did," Hughes said. "These guys earned the right in the offseason to compete in this race, but I'll probably need the first couple of weeks to see what our lineups should be."
Regardless of who races where, Hughes will demand the same type of toughness and consistency that he did of the heavyweight freshmen. His system works; his 2003 squad, which went undefeated, won Sprints, IRAs and Henley, now leads a heavyweight crew that will contend for the national title.
He knows the same type of success if possible, but not guaranteed. But he knows it will take great effort to have any chance at it.
"There's no easy week on our schedule," Hughes said. "We need to keep training hard and preparing, so we'll need to race on guts and toughness at times."
Just as he did when he was leading the Princeton lightweights to national championships.