Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day Two
Heavyweight Freshmen To Race For Title; Four Tiger Boats To Petite Finals
June 04, 2010 | Heavyweight Rowing
SEE ALL TIMES AND SATURDAY LANE ASSIGNMENTS
The Princeton heavyweights sent five boats to the IRA semifinals, and one has advanced to the grand final. The Princeton freshman eight, coming off an impressive second-place finish at the EARC championships, placed second in its semifinal heat and will compete for the gold medal at 10:15 a.m. Saturday morning on Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J.
The varsity eight, second varsity, varsity four and open four will each compete in petite finals Saturday morning.
Racing in the second semifinal, the novice eight saw Washington get out and win in 5:48.51, while Princeton and Cornell were locked in a tight duel for second place. However, since the top three crews all advanced to the finals, both were protecting their positions against the likes of Columbia, Brown and Wisconsin. Both held an edge of more than five seconds over Columbia at the finish line; Princeton placed second in 5:53.16, while Cornell took third in 5:53.43.
Princeton will race in lane 2 Saturday morning in the grand final. Cornell will be in lane 1, while Washington, California, Harvard and Stanford will take lanes 3-6. Harvard topped Princeton by less than one second to win the Eastern title three weeks ago.
The varsity eight, which had to race twice Thursday and claimed the final semifinal spot, simply didn't have enough to compete with its Ivy League rivals. Harvard, the 2010 Ivy League champion, won a very tight showdown with Brown and Cornell, each of whom finished between 5:37.28 and 5:37.82. Cornell earned the last spot, topping fourth-place Dartmouth by less than one second. Princeton finished sixth in 5:46.52 and will race in the petite final at noon Saturday.
The Princeton second varsity found itself in a challenging semifinal, with the likes of Washington and Brown leading the way. Those two crews cleared the field, with Washington winning in 5:45.82 and Brown finishing less than one second behind. Wisconsin held off Syracuse for the final spot in the grand final, while Princeton finished sixth in 6:08.98. The Tiger 2V will race in the petite final at 10:30 a.m.
The Princeton open four placed sixth in its semifinal in a time of 6:43.41 and will compete in the petite final at 8:36 a.m., while the varsity four placed sixth in 6:46.10 and will race in the petite final at 9:12 a.m.