Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day One
Fourth-Ranked Tiger Heavies Send All Three Boats To IRA Semifinals
June 02, 2011 | Heavyweight Rowing
LIVE VIDEO l FULL IRA COVERAGE l PRINCETON AT THE 2011 EARC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Princeton, seeded fourth in all three events at the 2011 IRA national championships this weekend, will send all three of its boats to Friday morning semifinals after a successful start to its weekend of racing.
The first varsity and freshman eight both qualified directly through the semifinals, while the second varsity picked up the final remaining spot in an afternoon repechage; the 2V competed in one of the most exciting races of the morning, which saw three teams in a late sprint to Friday's semifinal round.
The morning began with the varsity eight competing in the third heat, which happened to feature six Ivy League boats. Harvard, the third seed in the field and the reigning EARC champion, won the heat by less than 1.5 seconds, but it was the top two spots that moved on directly to the semifinal. Princeton held off a hard-charging Yale for that spot in 5:45.74, while the Bulldogs took third in 5:35.58.
Princeton will now compete in the first semfinal race, which will send three boats on to Saturday's grand final. Princeton will row out of Lane 4, right next to second-seeded California (Lane 2); also in the race will be Navy (1), Brown (2), Cornell (5) and Syracuse (6). The Tigers have earned wins this season over Brown, Cornell and Syracuse; they topped both Brown and Syracuse again during the EARC final, though the Bears were within 1.3 seconds that race.
The other semifinal will feature Yale, Wisconsin, Harvard, Washington, Stanford and Georgetown.
The second varsity was in a terrific opening heat of its championships. While Washington ended up racing away with the win, three other teams were left fighting for two spots and direct berths in the semifinal. Brown (5:46.34) and Boston University (5:46.51) both made late charges to move just past Princeton (5:47.08) by less than one second.
The fourth-seeded Tigers were in danger of missing the semifinals completely, but they took care of business in the lone repechage. The top three went on to the semifinals, and Princeton picked up the third spot in 5:47.41; while that may seem like barely qualifying, the Tigers did defeat the fourth-place boat (Gonzaga) by more than 17 seconds for that qualifying spot.
Princeton will need its best race of the weekend to reach Saturday's finals, but it will also be very familair with its field of opponents. A seven-boat semifinal will feature six Ivy squads and EARC rival Wisconsin. Harvard, the EARC champion in the 2V, will race from the middle, while Princeton will be in Lane 6, right next to Dartmouth. Yale, Penn, Brown and Wisconsin will also compete in the semifinal.
The freshman eight didn't have to worry about a repechage. In one of the most impressive races of the day by any boat, Princeton won its opening heat in 5:36.46 and defeated second-place Washington by more than 4.5 seconds. The freshman eight, who lost only once during the regular season and earned silver at EARCs, will compete in the second semifinal against Columbia, Navy, California, Brown and UCSD.
In a venture partially sponsored by Princeton men's rowing, all racing from this weekend's IRA Championships will be streamed live. Click on the link at the top of the story for the live video.