Princeton University Athletics
Pair Of Top-Ranked Crews Stay Home For Weekend, While Women's Lights Face Top Rivals
April 07, 2006 | Heavyweight Rowing
April 7, 2006
PRINCETON - Three of the No. 1 crews in the country will be racing this weekend in New Jersey, and Princeton will be a part of each race. Two such crews, the men's heavyweights and women's open, are both undefeated and carry the distinction as the nation's top-ranked program. The third belongs to the Wisconsin women's lightweights, who will take on Princeton and the rest of a loaded field at the Knecht Cup on Cooper River.
The Childs Cup and the Class of '75 Cup will be on the line at Lake Carnegie this weekend. The Childs Cup was first raced for in 1879, when Penn bested both Princeton and Columbia for the title. It is the most historic trophy in the sport, and it will be competed for again by those same teams this weekend, 127 years after its first competition.
The No. 1 Princeton heavies will look to win the Childs Cup for the 13th straight year when it races at noon Saturday (full home schedule below), one week after sweeping Rutgers to retain the Logg Cup. The majority of the 1V boat that topped second-place Columbia by more than 14 seconds last season remains in the top boat this year.
The men will follow the top-ranked open women, who sprinted out of the gates for a 5-0 start. Since the season opener in 2004, Lori Dauphiny's top eight have defeated 27 straight opponents. Two such wins came in the Class of '75 race last season, when Princeton edged out Harvard by 2.3 seconds on the Charles. Both Harvard and Cornell will be in town for tomorrow's competition, which includes the 1V race at 10:40 p.m.
The men's lightweights are off this weekend, but the women will head down to Cooper River for the Knecht Cup competition. Princeton won the competition last year, topping eventual national champion Wisconsin by 1.4 seconds. The Badgers are currently ranked No. 1, followed by Harvard and Princeton. The Crimson gained an early edge on Princeton with a dual win at the Windermere season-opening race, but this will be the first chance for several of the national title contenders to face each other this season.