Princeton University Athletics
Open Women Make Rare Road Trip For Class Of 1975 Regatta
April 08, 2010 | Women's Rowing - Open
Head coach Lori Dauphiny hopes her open women will make two trips outside of New Jersey this season, but she's certain they will make one. The sixth-ranked Princeton Tigers will head to Cayuga Inlet this weekend to take on No. 16 Radcliffe and a Cornell program that is just outside the Top 20.
Princeton is 4-0 on the season, including wins over No. 5 Brown and No. 13 Ohio State. Last weekend, the Tigers swept both Columbia and Rutgers to stay perfect in both the overall racing season and within the Ivy League. The Tigers can double their Ivy win total this weekend, as well as retaining a trophy they have dominated over two decades.
Princeton has won the last two Class of 1975 Cups, as well as 18 of the last 20. However, members of the Princeton senior class can remember their last trip to the Cayuga Inlet, when Radcliffe was the program that rowed away with the trophy. The Crimson enter the weekend 0-1 overall after a loss last weekend to Brown; it also placed fifth in the 2010 San Diego Crew Classic.
The host Big Red, which last won this regatta in 1983, is 1-1 overall; Cornell topped Gonzaga last weekend, but it also fell to Michigan State.
Princeton earned a comfortable victory in this event last year and won each of the three NCAA races (varsity eight, second varsity and varsity four). The second varsity and varsity four races would prove to be much closer than the main race, which the Tigers won by 6.8 seconds.
Following this weekend, Princeton will return to Lake Carnegie for three straight regattas, beginning April 17 against reigning NCAA champion Yale. Princeton will make the short trip south on May 16 to compete for both the Ivy League and Eastern title at the EAWRC Championships on Cooper River.
If all goes well, Princeton will get to make a second trip outside of The Garden State during the final weekend of May; the Tigers are one of a select few programs to have qualified for every NCAA Championship regatta since 1997, and they will look to make the trip once again when the championship weekend is held in Sacramento.