Sunday, May 30
Sacramento, Calif.
All Day
Princeton University
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NCAA Day 3
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Rowing - Open
/ Women's Rowing - Open
Open Crew Finishes Strong, Places Third At 2010 NCAA Championships
May 30, 2010 | Women's Rowing - Open
After a full year of hard work and a season full of exciting races, the Princeton open crew had 500 meters to determine whether it would earn one of the positions on the medal stand at the 2010 NCAA championships.
Racing in the varsity eight grand final on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif., Princeton needed to hold off a strong California boat during the final stretch to earn both a medal in the varsity eight final and the team championship. And this Princeton team, after moving back into the national elite this season, was not about to let the opportunity slip away.
Princeton finished with 76 team points to place third at the 2010 NCAA Championship regatta, the Tigers' best finish since a third-place finish in 2006 and their second-best finish ever. Virginia won the NCAA title with 87 team points, while California finished second with 82 points. Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, placed fourth overall with 75 points, while Brown took fifth with 71 points.
All of Sunday's times and finishes can be found here.
The varsity four got Princeton off to a good start on Sunday, rallying from an early deficit to win the petite final by more than three seconds over defending NCAA champion Stanford. The Cardinal sprinted out of the gates with an opening split of 1:45.78, easily the fastest 500 meters for any crew in the race.
Stanford wasn't able to maintain that pace, and Princeton took advantage. The Tigers were third after the 500-meter mark, but they posted a second split of 1:48.41 to take a razor-thin lead over Stanford midway through the race. Princeton and Stanford both posted splits under 1:52 to separate from the field with 500 meters, with Princeton holding a lead of more than a second going into the final stretch.
That stretch went to Princeton, which topped Stanford by more than two seconds over the final 500 meters to win the final in 7:19.12. The Cardinal placed second in 7:22.48, while Yale placed third in 7:24.12. The victory earned Princeton 10 team points heading into the V8 and 2V grand finals.
The second varsity began its grand final in third through the opening split, but a tough second split left Princeton fifth midway through the race. After trailing leader Brown by less than three seconds through 500 meters, Princeton found itself trailing by more than eight seconds at the midway point and behind both California and Virginia.
That split would leave Princeton in fifth to start the second half of the race, and the Tigers couldn't move up throughout the final 1000 meters. The Princeton 2V, which won an EAWRC title two weeks earlier on Cooper River, made up a little ground on Virginia during the final 500 meters, but not enough to move into fourth position. By placing fifth in 6:37.23, the Tigers scored 24 team points and shared fifth place with Wisconsin heading into the final race of the day.
While there was still an outside chance of winning the overall team title going into the last race, Princeton knew what it had to do to earn a spot on the medal stand. The Tigers needed at least a fourth-place finish to move past Brown in the final team totals, and they needed to top Stanford by more than two spots.
Yale, whose struggles in the 2V and V4 effectively ended its chances for an NCAA team title, showed the power that earned it an EAWRC title two weeks ago and produced the fastest split of the race in the opening 500 meters. Princeton was the only crew within two seconds of Yale at that point, and actually was within one second heading into the second split.
The Bulldogs pushed forward and gained more than a second on Princeton by the midway point, while Virginia started to move forward. The Cavaliers were in a head-to-head battle with Cal for the NCAA team title; as long as either had a top-three finish, the faster of the two boats would win the championship.
By the 1500-meter mark, Virginia had moved to second place, less than one second ahead of both Princeton and California. Princeton's lead over California was only .30 of a second, and it needed to hold that edge to move past Stanford and into third place for the team finals. It took one final strong sprint, and senior co-captains Ariel Frost and Sara Hendershot led the way. The Tiger varsity eight had the second-fastest final split in the field (1:39.06) and held off California for third place. Stanford ended up fifth overall, leaving the defending NCAA champion one team point behind Princeton.
Racing in the varsity eight grand final on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif., Princeton needed to hold off a strong California boat during the final stretch to earn both a medal in the varsity eight final and the team championship. And this Princeton team, after moving back into the national elite this season, was not about to let the opportunity slip away.
Princeton finished with 76 team points to place third at the 2010 NCAA Championship regatta, the Tigers' best finish since a third-place finish in 2006 and their second-best finish ever. Virginia won the NCAA title with 87 team points, while California finished second with 82 points. Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, placed fourth overall with 75 points, while Brown took fifth with 71 points.
All of Sunday's times and finishes can be found here.
The varsity four got Princeton off to a good start on Sunday, rallying from an early deficit to win the petite final by more than three seconds over defending NCAA champion Stanford. The Cardinal sprinted out of the gates with an opening split of 1:45.78, easily the fastest 500 meters for any crew in the race.
Stanford wasn't able to maintain that pace, and Princeton took advantage. The Tigers were third after the 500-meter mark, but they posted a second split of 1:48.41 to take a razor-thin lead over Stanford midway through the race. Princeton and Stanford both posted splits under 1:52 to separate from the field with 500 meters, with Princeton holding a lead of more than a second going into the final stretch.
That stretch went to Princeton, which topped Stanford by more than two seconds over the final 500 meters to win the final in 7:19.12. The Cardinal placed second in 7:22.48, while Yale placed third in 7:24.12. The victory earned Princeton 10 team points heading into the V8 and 2V grand finals.
The second varsity began its grand final in third through the opening split, but a tough second split left Princeton fifth midway through the race. After trailing leader Brown by less than three seconds through 500 meters, Princeton found itself trailing by more than eight seconds at the midway point and behind both California and Virginia.
That split would leave Princeton in fifth to start the second half of the race, and the Tigers couldn't move up throughout the final 1000 meters. The Princeton 2V, which won an EAWRC title two weeks earlier on Cooper River, made up a little ground on Virginia during the final 500 meters, but not enough to move into fourth position. By placing fifth in 6:37.23, the Tigers scored 24 team points and shared fifth place with Wisconsin heading into the final race of the day.
While there was still an outside chance of winning the overall team title going into the last race, Princeton knew what it had to do to earn a spot on the medal stand. The Tigers needed at least a fourth-place finish to move past Brown in the final team totals, and they needed to top Stanford by more than two spots.
Yale, whose struggles in the 2V and V4 effectively ended its chances for an NCAA team title, showed the power that earned it an EAWRC title two weeks ago and produced the fastest split of the race in the opening 500 meters. Princeton was the only crew within two seconds of Yale at that point, and actually was within one second heading into the second split.
The Bulldogs pushed forward and gained more than a second on Princeton by the midway point, while Virginia started to move forward. The Cavaliers were in a head-to-head battle with Cal for the NCAA team title; as long as either had a top-three finish, the faster of the two boats would win the championship.
By the 1500-meter mark, Virginia had moved to second place, less than one second ahead of both Princeton and California. Princeton's lead over California was only .30 of a second, and it needed to hold that edge to move past Stanford and into third place for the team finals. It took one final strong sprint, and senior co-captains Ariel Frost and Sara Hendershot led the way. The Tiger varsity eight had the second-fastest final split in the field (1:39.06) and held off California for third place. Stanford ended up fifth overall, leaving the defending NCAA champion one team point behind Princeton.
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