Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Lightweights Ready To Rewrite 2014 IRA Script, Take On New York Pair
May 29, 2015 | Men's Rowing - Lightweight
LIVE RESULTS l LIVE VIDEO l WEEKEND SCHEDULE l PRINCETON HISTORY AT IRAs
There have been a number of incredible memories over the last 24 months for the Princeton men's lightweight rowing team.
Two Head of the Charles victories. Two medals at Eastern Sprints. Two Goldthwait and Vogel Cup victories. Many more victories than losses.
But that 2014 IRA final is a nagging memory that this program would love to replace with something much more special.
The past two seasons had plenty of similarities, ranging from the Charles victories in the fall to the bronze medals at Sprints. Cornell has been the best team from the beginning of 2014 through the start of Sunday's 12:12 IRA national final at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., but Princeton has been able to grab at least one victory against everybody else during that run.
The Tigers knew that dethroning Cornell would be a challenge during last year's IRA final, but they never imagined that they simply wouldn't factor in the medal competition. The top four simply got away from Princeton, and the Tigers were left in fifth in their final competition of the season.
“The disappointment of last year's IRA final result has remained with me to this day and has motivated me in training sessions throughout the year,” said senior William Downing, who has been back in the varsity eight this season. “Capping my Princeton career with my best IRA finish is important for me and the other members of the Class of 2015 because it would set the stage for the team's continued success over the next several years.”
While the program is clearly on an upward trajectory after back-to-back Sprints medals and terrific regular season success, Downing knows just how much belief a strong IRA finish would mean for the returners.
The path to Sunday's final has had its bumps — mainly thanks to a pair of strong boats from the Empire State — but it has had plenty of strong results as well. The Tigers went 8-3 during the season, and all three losses have come to either No. 1 Cornell or No. 2 Columbia. Those were the two boats that finished ahead of Princeton at Sprints, but it was still a piece the Tigers felt good about.
“I felt that our race in the Sprints final was a well-rowed, consistent piece that gives us something to build off of at the IRA regatta,” Downing said. “While we were disappointed to be unable to bring the Joseph Wright Trophy back to Princeton, we were happy with the way we executed the first half of the race.
“We had a quick pace to the 1000-meter mark, and we remained close to Columbia and Cornell, but we failed to capitalize on some opportunities to make up ground on or move through the crews ahead of us,” he added. “This week, we have been focusing on maintaining a strong rhythm that will help us make a push in the second half of the race.”
The first job is simply getting to the final, and in a sport with as much parity as lightweight rowing, you can't take anything for granted. Princeton will race in the 8:12 heat Sunday morning against Columbia, MIT and Penn, and it will need to defeat at least one to get into that 12:12 final.
Once you're there, anything can happen. Cornell may have gone wire-to-wire last year, but if that last wire was another 50 to 100 meters further, Harvard might have pulled off a shocker to win a national title.
It's the IRAs. Anything can happen.
“I think that the technical changes we've made this week, coupled with the experience from our race at Sprints, puts us in a position to vie for first place with the rest of the crews in the race,” Downing said. “Whether we come across the line first will come down to race plan execution and willpower.”