Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Princeton Chase
Heavyweights Claim Princeton Chase; All Boats Claim Top-4 Finishes
November 02, 2015 | Heavyweight Rowing, Women's Rowing - Open, Women's Rowing - Lightweight, Men's Rowing - Lightweight
The fall racing season closed Sunday with the annual Princeton Chase, and the Princeton heavyweights made sure they capped the fall on a high note. The Tigers won the overall race and placed three boats in the top seven, one of several highlights for the Tiger rowing program during a beautiful fall day on Lake Carnegie.
Each of Princeton's 'A' boats earned at least top-four finish in their respective events, and both lightweight eights took second in their events. The lightweight women competed in the open field, and only Radcliffe's top boat finished ahead of them.
The lone Tiger winner was the heavyweight eight, which was coming off a good performance at the Head of the Charles two weeks earlier. That day, the Tigers were third among all Ivy finishers; on Sunday morning, they were the fastest in the field. Princeton won the race in 12:57.261, which was nearly five seconds faster than Yale and about 6.5 seconds faster than Cornell.
"I was happy with the results today at Chase," senior Patrick Eble said. "Overall, the team performed well in all boat classes and the results show the depth that our team has been building. It's always nice to win on our home course, especially for my last Chase as a senior at Princeton. We executed our race like we planned and got some solid results."
The Tiger 2V, which is building off a 2V silver at the IRA Championships last year, placed fifth overall and first among the 2V entries, while the 3V finished seventh overall and first among the 3V boats. The 2V boat topped California's top boat, while the 3V beat the top boats from Dartmouth, Navy, Wisconsin and Penn. The heavyweight 4V and 5V entries also finished first in their respective boat classes.
"It was really great to see our 3V beat some of the 1V's in the race today," Eble said. "They really threw down out there. Looking forward, I'm excited because we can use Chase as a building block for winter training and the spring racing season."
Both lightweight boats finished just behind crews that have been targets for both over the last couple of years. The lightweight women finished in 15:52.99, which was enough to top a good Boston University boat.
"With the V8 we were happy to beat BU, producing a 22-second swing between the Charles — where they beat us by 14 seconds — and today," head coach Paul Rassam said. "We were not pleased to have lost some more seconds to Radcliffe, but instead of being discouraged we are simply that much more motivated going forward. It is time to train harder and to train better as we work towards the season that matters the most.
"The 2V8 has been showing some real progress in practice and they were much more competitive with BU and Radcliffe than they were at this point last year," Rassam added. "Things are heading in a very encouraging direction with those athletes. Overall our team is in a stronger position than it was in the fall last year. Most importantly, the energy in the boat bay has been very good. The athletes are motivated and really enjoying their training — this will pay out in the spring."
The lightweight men were the top collegiate finisher at the Head of the Charles — the only boat to finish faster was the Canadian National Training Center. At the Chase, the lightweights nearly pulled off another win, but reigning national champion Cornell managed a tight win. The Big Red finished in 13:37.97, about 1.5 seconds faster than the Tigers.
Yale made it a tight 1-2-3 Ivy finish, as the Bulldogs finished only three seconds behind Princeton.
The open women took fourth in a strong field, which included the winning Virginia boat (14:39.36). Reigning Ivy champ Brown took seconds, while Yale claimed third over Princeton (14:54.28) by less than two seconds. The open women did have an impressive 1-2 finish in the fours event, and it placed four of the top seven fours overall.
You can find full results by clicking on the link at the top of this release.