Princeton University
EARC Sprints
Heavies Make Big Jump, Claim Silver At Eastern Sprints
May 16, 2010 | Heavyweight Rowing
One year ago, the Princeton heavyweights finished 13th at the EARC championships. Sunday morning, the Tigers were the fifth seed and not expected to win a medal. But Greg Hughes' squad has fought back to become one of the Eastern elite once again, and its determination paid off with a silver medal at the 2010 Eastern championships.
Princeton didn't have it easy at any point Sunday and needed to push hard just to qualify for the grand final. In the second heat, Harvard won in 5:39.52, and fifth-seeded Princeton and eighth-seeded Cornell were left battling for the final spot in the grand final. Princeton held off the Red in 5:41.20, less than one second faster than the Big Red.
Any concerns that the tough heat would leave Princeton spent for the final were quickly proven wrong. The grand final surprisingly did not include third-seeded Yale, which was stunned by less than .3 of a second by both Columbia and Wisconsin in its heat. Top-seeded Brown was there, as was Wisconsin, Dartmouth and Columbia, but this final would come down to the same two boats as the second morning heat. Harvard, who topped Princeton in a memorable regular season race that saw the Tigers' boat crash after the rudder cable snapped, won the EARC title in 5:33.01. The Tigers, two weeks removed from losing to Brown in the regular season finale, placed second in 5:35.51, while the Bears placed third in 5:36.92.
All times from the varsity eight final can be found here.
The Princeton second varsity eight placed fifth in 5:45.12; Brown won the gold in 5:36.36, while Cornell and Wisconsin held off Harvard and Princeton for the other two spots on the medal stand. The third varsity placed sixth in 5:53.87, while Wisconsin won in 5:41.30.
The Princeton novice eight had a memorable debut in the EARC Championships. Like its varsity teammates, the Tigers outperformed their seed and found a spot on the medal stand. In fact, only Harvard kept Princeton from the top spot, and it was by a very slim margin. The Princeton freshmen came in as the fifth seed overall, while Harvard's novice eight was undefeated and the top seed. Those two boats cleared the field to battle for gold; Harvard held off the hard-charging Tigers in 5:37.30, while Princeton took second in 5:37.79. Cornell finished third in 5:41.02. All novice times can be found here.