Princeton University Athletics
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#8 Open Women Enter 2010 With Both Experience And Talented Youth
March 23, 2010 | Women's Rowing - Open
Senior co-captains Sara Hendershot and Ariel Frost have been a member of the Princeton open crew varsity eight since their freshman seasons. Now, as they prepare for one more fight for an Eastern and NCAA championship, they will rely on a new mix of freshmen to flourish in the upcoming 2010 season.
Princeton enters the 2010 season ranked eighth nationally in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coaches Poll. That poll ranks the full NCAA team (varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four) for the first time; in past years, the poll ranked only each team's respective varsity eight.
To have a team that can compete for an NCAA title, depth is crucial. A new rule passed in the offseason now allows freshmen to race in the varsity boats all season, and that could help head coach Lori Dauphiny gain all the depth she is looking for.
"We have a really energetic freshman class," said Dauphiny, who led Princeton to an NCAA title in 2006 and got the Tigers back on the EAWRC medal stand last year. "It has injected our team with spirit and enthusiam. And we have a great senior class. Not a huge class, but an ambitious one."
Hendershot and Frost are leaders among that ambitious class. Hendershot rowed stroke for Princeton last year and helped the Tigers upset Brown for third place at Eastern Sprints; the Tigers followed that up by out-performing its seed at the NCAA Championships and reaching the grand final. Frost sat directly in front of Hendershot; she has served as the varsity coxswain for as long as Hendershot has been in the top boat.
"They both have different roles, but as captains, they have one role: leadership by example," Dauphiny said. "Ari is a coxswain, so she is steering the boat, motivating the boat, executing in practice. Sara is a rower who stroked the boat last year, and she has always shown tremendous commitment in terms of her fitness and athletic development. Ari is the same way; she is consistently solid and really insightful. Both bring a tremendous amount of loyalty and energy that has been critical. Both have very high standards and expectations."
Both Hendershot and Frost felt good about the offseason work, both in fall racing and winter conditioning.
"It looks like we gained some really solid power," Hendershot said, "We've only been on the water for a few weeks so far, but it looks like we have some promising boats lining up. We're excited for racing to start."
Racing will start Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie, and it will be an early test for the eighth-ranked Tigers. No. 5 Brown and No. 10 Ohio State will compete for The Brown & Princeton Trophy, a regatta that begins at 9 a.m. Princeton held off Brown in this same regatta last season, although Michigan was the crew to finish first overall.
As has been the case in recent even years, Princeton will row the majority of its regattas on the friendly waters of Lake Carnegie. Following this weekend, Princeton will row four of its five races at home, with the lone exception being an April 10 showdown in Ithaca between Princeton, Cornell and Harvard.
The EAWRC Sprints will also be held in New Jersey; the May 16 championship regatta, which also crowns the Ivy League winner, will be held on Cooper River. The NCAA Championships return to Sacramento for the final weekend of May.
As the sport has expanded, the elite teams have spread out throughout the country. Reigning NCAA champion Yale holds the No. 1 seed, but a trio of western schools (Stanford, California and Washington) each rank in the top six. Virginia holds the fourth spot, just ahead of Brown, and Michigan State is ranked seventh, just ahead of Princeton.
Of course, depending on how quickly chemistry forms between the talented freshman class and the rest of Princeton's veteran rowers, the Tigers could find themselves moving up in the polls well before the postseason begins.
"This group is determined," Dauphiny said. "They have shown great promise. They may be a little rougher technically and younger than some boats in the past, but maybe that will work to their favor. We still have a lot of work to do, but I'm really excited to see what they can achieve."