Sunday, May 14
Worcester, Mass.
TBA
Princeton University
vs
Eastern Sprints
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
Lightweights Pick Up Two Sprints Medals, Finish Fifth In 1V Final
May 14, 2017 | Men's Rowing - Lightweight
Like a chef perfecting a recipe, the Princeton men's lightweights have tinkered with their races throughout the season looking for that perfect 2,000 meters. It didn't come Sunday at the Eastern Sprints, but it provided more information to a resilient crew which will be looking for that perfect course when it heads to Sacramento in three weeks for the IRA National Championships.
Princeton has been there with every boat this season, and that certainly didn't change Sunday, even if its final placement is lower than any of the rowers would have hoped. The Tigers came out aggressive in the 1V grand final, which determined the Ivy League championship, but they were unable to maintain that pace and ultimately finished fifth in the final lightweight race of the Sprints regatta.
"We've been losing some grip in the second 500 in the previous races, and we didn't engage at HYP the way we should have," head coach Marty Crotty said. "We put a lot of work in after HYP to be more engaged and put in work to race from the lead."
Crotty is referring to the Goldthwait Cup race, when Princeton was never able to break into a Harvard-Yale duel after the first 500 meters on the Charles River. The Tigers were determined not to let that happen again, and they shot off the start line to an early lead. With a high stroke rate, they were able to grab an early lead, though Cornell was able to grab the edge before the midway point of the race. The top-seeded Big Red moved away from Princeton, and only Harvard was able to make a real charge at them over the second half of the race.
"It just started to slip a bit in the last 500, and a couple other boats overtook us," Crotty said. "They were disappointed in that, but proud of the way they got to the lead. These guys are resilient."
That resilience has shown up throughout the season. They followed an early-season loss to Navy with a win over defending champion Columbia. When they lost a late lead to Cornell, they rebounded by holding off a tough Penn team at the line on the Schuylkill. They countered their slow start on the Charles with a much faster one on Lake Quinsigamond. As they keep moving pieces around, the puzzle is coming into greater focus, and there would be no better time to see the completed version than in three weeks.
"We'll work on staying on the lead and being more efficient with it," Crotty said. "We'll get back to it, we'll train, we've got a lot of fast crews in the boathouse working towards IRAs, and that will help us out a lot. We'll keep tinkering with the race plan, but the team is keen to find that balance." "
Princeton claimed silver medals in both the 3V and 4V finals. The 4V took part in a thrilling duel and nearly fought its way past Navy, but ultimately missed the top spot by a few feet. The 3V did an impressive job holding off Harvard by less than a second to earn its silver medal, though Yale won the gold by less than two seconds.
The Princeton 2V took fourth in its grand final, while the 5V finished fifth.
Varsity Eight
1 Cornell 5:40.808
2 Harvard 5:41.656
3 Penn 5:43.064
4 Columbia 5:45.091
5 Princeton 5:45.210
6 Yale 5:47.095
Second Varsity Eight
1 Harvard 5:46.553
2 Yale 5:48.458
3 Navy 5:48.525
4 Princeton 5:51.141
5 Columbia 5:51.984
6 Cornell 5:53.029
Third Varsity Eight
1 Yale 5:49.542
2 Princeton 5:51.319
3 Harvard 5:52.121
4 Cornell 5:54.616
5 Navy 5:55.476
6 Columbia 6:08.001
Fourth Varsity Eight
1 Navy 5:51.300
2 Princeton 5:51.732
3 Cornell 5:55.285
4 Harvard 5:55.362
5 Yale 6:04.563
6 Dartmouth 6:12.934
7 Penn 6:16.944
Fifth Varsity Eight
1 Navy 5V 5:58.474
2 Harvard 5V 5:58.942
3 Navy 6V 6:05.080
4 Cornell 5V 6:08.247
5 Princeton 5V 6:08.538
6 Harvard 6V 6:18.082
Princeton has been there with every boat this season, and that certainly didn't change Sunday, even if its final placement is lower than any of the rowers would have hoped. The Tigers came out aggressive in the 1V grand final, which determined the Ivy League championship, but they were unable to maintain that pace and ultimately finished fifth in the final lightweight race of the Sprints regatta.
"We've been losing some grip in the second 500 in the previous races, and we didn't engage at HYP the way we should have," head coach Marty Crotty said. "We put a lot of work in after HYP to be more engaged and put in work to race from the lead."
Crotty is referring to the Goldthwait Cup race, when Princeton was never able to break into a Harvard-Yale duel after the first 500 meters on the Charles River. The Tigers were determined not to let that happen again, and they shot off the start line to an early lead. With a high stroke rate, they were able to grab an early lead, though Cornell was able to grab the edge before the midway point of the race. The top-seeded Big Red moved away from Princeton, and only Harvard was able to make a real charge at them over the second half of the race.
"It just started to slip a bit in the last 500, and a couple other boats overtook us," Crotty said. "They were disappointed in that, but proud of the way they got to the lead. These guys are resilient."
That resilience has shown up throughout the season. They followed an early-season loss to Navy with a win over defending champion Columbia. When they lost a late lead to Cornell, they rebounded by holding off a tough Penn team at the line on the Schuylkill. They countered their slow start on the Charles with a much faster one on Lake Quinsigamond. As they keep moving pieces around, the puzzle is coming into greater focus, and there would be no better time to see the completed version than in three weeks.
"We'll work on staying on the lead and being more efficient with it," Crotty said. "We'll get back to it, we'll train, we've got a lot of fast crews in the boathouse working towards IRAs, and that will help us out a lot. We'll keep tinkering with the race plan, but the team is keen to find that balance." "
Princeton claimed silver medals in both the 3V and 4V finals. The 4V took part in a thrilling duel and nearly fought its way past Navy, but ultimately missed the top spot by a few feet. The 3V did an impressive job holding off Harvard by less than a second to earn its silver medal, though Yale won the gold by less than two seconds.
The Princeton 2V took fourth in its grand final, while the 5V finished fifth.
Varsity Eight
1 Cornell 5:40.808
2 Harvard 5:41.656
3 Penn 5:43.064
4 Columbia 5:45.091
5 Princeton 5:45.210
6 Yale 5:47.095
Second Varsity Eight
1 Harvard 5:46.553
2 Yale 5:48.458
3 Navy 5:48.525
4 Princeton 5:51.141
5 Columbia 5:51.984
6 Cornell 5:53.029
Third Varsity Eight
1 Yale 5:49.542
2 Princeton 5:51.319
3 Harvard 5:52.121
4 Cornell 5:54.616
5 Navy 5:55.476
6 Columbia 6:08.001
Fourth Varsity Eight
1 Navy 5:51.300
2 Princeton 5:51.732
3 Cornell 5:55.285
4 Harvard 5:55.362
5 Yale 6:04.563
6 Dartmouth 6:12.934
7 Penn 6:16.944
Fifth Varsity Eight
1 Navy 5V 5:58.474
2 Harvard 5V 5:58.942
3 Navy 6V 6:05.080
4 Cornell 5V 6:08.247
5 Princeton 5V 6:08.538
6 Harvard 6V 6:18.082
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