Princeton University
EAWRC Sprints
Tiger Open Earns Silver At EAWRC, Medals In Top Three Races
May 16, 2010 | Women's Rowing - Open
The top-seeded Princeton open crew found itself locked in a tight battle with second-seeded Yale in the final of the 2010 EAWRC Championship varsity eight grand final. The end saw the Bulldogs hold off Princeton by less than one second for gold, although the Tigers still earned medals in each of the three main races.
The varsity eight, which went 12-0 on the regular season, including a victory over Yale in April, knew that the field would be even stronger for the Eastern championships. With an exceptionally strong season for the entire Ivy League, head coach Lori Dauphiny figured the varsity final would be loaded with Ivy programs. She was right, as six Ivy boats lined up at the start of the Cooper River course for Sunday's EAWRC final.
But by the end, none of the boats were within 10 seconds of either Yale or Princeton. The Bulldogs won in 6:20.16, while Princeton took second in 6:20.93. Brown held off Dartmouth to earn the final spot on the medal stand in a time of 6:31.81. All times for the varsity final can be found here.
Princeton will likely get another shot at Yale in three weeks when the top programs in the nation head west to Sacramento to compete in the 2010 NCAA Championships. While the winner of the varsity final is still a key determinant in deciding the national champion, the NCAAs reward the top program in the varsity eight, the second varsity and the varsity four. Based on Sunday's results, Princeton should be a strong contender.
The Tiger 2V cruised to a gold medal in a time of 6:36.00. Ironically, the second varsity was the only of Princeton's top three boats that didn't come in as the top seed, but it was clearly the strongest at the end of the day. The Tigers topped second-place Brown by more than 4.7 seconds to win the gold medal. All times can be found here.
The Princeton varsity four won bronze in 7:20.35. Brown won by open water in 7:10.85, while Yale held off Princeton by more than two seconds for silver. The Princeton third varsity eight finished fourth in 6:56.24, more than five seconds behind third-place Cornell.