Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day Two
Players Mentioned
Women's Lights Finish Historic Season With Silver Medal At IRA Nationals
June 04, 2011 | Women's Rowing - Lightweight
The Princeton women's lightweight crew made a hard charge for gold in the stretch of the IRA national championships grand final, but the Tigers' dream season finished less than one second short of a perfect finish.
Despite an opening split that saw second-seeded Stanford race out to a multiple-seat lead, Princeton came roaring back during the third split to set up a thrilling finish. With the rest of the field more than seven seconds behind, the final 300 meters belonged only to Stanford and Princeton. As close as the Tigers came to completing their perfect season, the Cardinal held off the charge and won in 6:32.39. Princeton finished second in 6:33.07, while Wisconsin placed third in 6:40.31.
"Just based on what's been happening over the last few years, I think these are the two fastest lightweight eights ever," head coach Paul Rassam said after the race. "We came out on the silver side of it. We haven't been trailing all season, so you just never know how they'll handle it. They showed amazing heart to pull back into that race.
"This group is just a bunch of racers," Rassam said. "It's pretty unusual to pull back that kind of margin in a grand final over the last 1,000. I think it speaks to who they are and how much they believe in themselves."
It completes Princeton's best year since 2003, and considering how much the sport has developed in the last five years, it could be considered as strong a team as the Tigers have ever put together. The Tigers knocked off both Stanford and Wisconsin early in the season, completed an undefeated regular season and won the program's first EAWRC championship since 2003 three weeks ago.
"We had some lean years where we could have really doubted our program," Rassam said. "I think maybe the attitude in the league was that Princeton had fallen out of it. We never thought that way. We trained to win every year, and sometimes it came together, and others it didn't. We always train with the belief that we can beat anybody, and I think this team really embodies that belief and perseverance."
Princeton also put a varsity four in the grand final, and it finished fifth overall in 7:54.44
VARSITY EIGHT GRAND FINAL
1 Stanford 6:32.39
2 Princeton 6:33.07
3 Wisconsin 6:40.31
4 Radcliffe 6:42.47
5 Bucknell 6:50.48
6 Georgetown 6:57.58
VARSITY FOUR GRAND FINAL
1 Wisconsin 7:26.32
2 Stanford 7:38.43
3 Radcliffe 7:40.84
4 Loyola 7:42.42
5 Princeton 7:54.44
6 Tulsa 8:10.05
V8 lineup
C-Yuna Sakuma
S-Michaela Glaeser
7-Alex Morss
6-Emily Clonts
5-Emma Bedard
4-Lauren Sykora
3-Caroline Clark
2-Kathryn O'Connell
B-Elena Martinez