Princeton University
IRA Regatta
Men's Lightweights Finish Fourth At National Championships
June 07, 2008 | Men's Rowing - Lightweight
The 2008 Princeton men's lightweight crew ended its season with a fourth-place finish at the IRA national championship regatta. The Tigers accomplished their first goal of the day by qualifying for the grand final, but the depth in the field led to a tight battle between four teams for the gold medal. Defending champion Cornell stood tall at the end to win the title.
Needing a top-three finish in its heat to qualify for the grand final, Princeton placed second in its semifinal heat in a time of 5:48.15. While Yale won that heat, Princeton's time was more than five seconds faster than Columbia, which placed fourth and missed out on the grand final. That performance put Princeton in the grand final of both the Eastern Sprints and the IRA national championships for the first time in the three-year tenure of head coach Greg Hughes.
The grand final promised to be an open race with a significantly strong field. Cornell, the defending IRA champion and reigning Eastern champion, won in 5:39.194, while Navy finished second in 5:40.782. Yale got to the medal stand by taking third in 5:41.203, while Princeton placed fourth in 5:41.948. The Tigers topped fifth-place Georgetown by nearly four seconds and nearly nine seconds over sixth-place Georgetown.
Here is Hughes' assessment of the race:
"The Varsity 8 put forward a very gutsy performance at the IRA. We set the tone and pace of the final, pressing the field out and leading through the thousand, fending off big moves from Cornell and Yale. We then defended a second big move by Cornell just past the 1000 mark and pushed hard to take the race away in the 3rd 500. We came through the 500-to-go mark with six seats on the field, but we did not have enough to defend a final late charge by Cornell, who drew level with us at about 250 to go. The field came at us hard and we did not have enough left to meet the late challenge. At the line, we finished 4th, 6-7 seats behind Cornell and deck or so down on Navy and Yale.
I have never been more proud of a crew. They took control of the national championship race early and they turned it into pure guts race for the win. Much congratulations goes to Cornell on an outstanding season. They beat our best and I think that our best was very good."
Princeton ended its 2008 campaign with a 6-1 regular-season record and a silver medal at Eastern Sprints.