Princeton University Athletics
Sunday, June 4
Sacramento, Calif.
TBA
Princeton University
vs
IRA Championships (Day 2)
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
Women's Lightweights Hope Strong May Training Leads To June IRA Championship
June 01, 2017 | Women's Rowing - Lightweight
KEY LINKS
LIVE STREAM: Friday morning l Friday afternoon l Saturday l Sunday
IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Live Results l Full Schedule & Lane Assignments l Seeds l Princeton's History at the IRAs
(Below the preview are all the pertinent race times for all Princeton women's lightweight boats for the weekend, including the lane assignments for the opening heat.)
The goal for the Princeton women's lightweights in May was a simple one — train one month to overcome .105 of a second.
That slimmest of margin could make the ultimate difference this weekend when the Tigers compete with eight other teams at the 2017 IRA Championships, held June 1-3 on Lake Natoma at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center in Gold River, Calif.
What does .105 of a second represent? It was the difference between silver (Wisconsin) and bronze (Princeton) at the 2017 Sprints championships. During that showdown on Lake Quinsigamond, the difference wasn't as significant, since neither was able to catch Radcliffe.
This Saturday, that difference will mean much more. Veteran Princeton rowers, who will be looking for the program's first V8 medal at IRAs since a 2011 thriller with Stanford resulted in silver, have spent the last three years dealing with a 4,000-meter journey to the IRA grand final. With both Stanford and Wisconsin in Princeton's Saturday heat (11:40 am ET/8:40 am local), the Tigers will need a top-two finish to finally avoid the repechage and have a rested boat for the grand final.
"It is really important for us to do well enough in the heat to go straight to finals," senior co-captain Christina Warren said. "Rowing fewer meters than other crews can never hurt during championship racing. However, while it is obviously the goal is not to have to race reps, I believe that we can still perform just as well the next day in finals if we do have to race a rep. We've trained so that our bodies will be able to handle tight race turnarounds, so I think it is more about keeping a positive and confident mindset no matter the circumstances moving into the big race on Sunday."
Reigning IRA champion Stanford enters the weekend as the top seed, so there is a good chance the second spot in the final could come down to Princeton and Wisconsin. Those two split during the season — the Tigers were the faster crew at the Knecht Cup — and one will have a big advantage for Sunday's grand final (2:40 pm ET/11:40 local).
Princeton raced once since Sprints — a Senior Day home regatta with Stanford — but they feel like they have gained speed since then.
"One particular strength of our team this year is our ability to feed off of all the internal drive, even when we don't have the opportunity to piece against other boats," freshman Emma Hopkins said, one of three newcomers in the Princeton 1V this year. "I think we have done a good job at continuing to raise our own level of competition even with a break from racing the league. Although, since this is my first year, I don't have anything to compare this year's Sprints to IRA period with, I've been really encouraged by how productive it has been. The break from competition has allowed us to both really hone in on some technical issues and put in some heavy training weeks."
Princeton could also build on a thrilling race on Lake Quinsigamond for the Sprints final. The Tigers' late charge moved them past Boston University for the medal stand, and they may have caught Wisconsin if the course had 50 more meters. Of course, catching Stanford and Radcliffe will be another challenge, but the Tigers now know what speed it can produce under the pressure of a six-boat championship race.
"We took a lot of confidence moving out of Sprints," Warren said. "It was a hell of a race, and I think we all proved that we were willing to gut ourselves for each other on the course. We did leave with a bit of a chip on our shoulders, though, and that was one of the major motivating factors for our training the past four weeks. The field is so strong this year, and it is so much fun to have races like we did at Sprints, but it's obviously even more fun to win them, and we fully believe we can take a huge swing at IRAs this weekend."
Princeton will also send a four and a double to the IRA Championships this weekend. The four has earned bronze at IRAs in each of the last two years.
V8
Saturday Heat: 11:40 am ET (8:40)
(2) Princeton, (3) Stanford, (4) Wisconsin, (5) Georgetown
Sunday grand/petite finals: 2:40/1:30 ET (11:40/10:30)
V4
Saturday Heat: 12:10 pm ET (9:10)
(2) Princeton, (3) Wisconsin, (4) MIT, (5) Radcliffe
Sunday grand final: 11:50 am ET (8:50)
V2
Saturday Heat: 11:30 am ET (8:30)
(1) Boston Univ., (2) Princeton, (3) Radcliffe, (4) Wisconsin, (5) MIT, (6) Stanford
Sunday grand final: 11:00 (8:00)
LIVE STREAM: Friday morning l Friday afternoon l Saturday l Sunday
IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Live Results l Full Schedule & Lane Assignments l Seeds l Princeton's History at the IRAs
(Below the preview are all the pertinent race times for all Princeton women's lightweight boats for the weekend, including the lane assignments for the opening heat.)
The goal for the Princeton women's lightweights in May was a simple one — train one month to overcome .105 of a second.
That slimmest of margin could make the ultimate difference this weekend when the Tigers compete with eight other teams at the 2017 IRA Championships, held June 1-3 on Lake Natoma at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center in Gold River, Calif.
What does .105 of a second represent? It was the difference between silver (Wisconsin) and bronze (Princeton) at the 2017 Sprints championships. During that showdown on Lake Quinsigamond, the difference wasn't as significant, since neither was able to catch Radcliffe.
This Saturday, that difference will mean much more. Veteran Princeton rowers, who will be looking for the program's first V8 medal at IRAs since a 2011 thriller with Stanford resulted in silver, have spent the last three years dealing with a 4,000-meter journey to the IRA grand final. With both Stanford and Wisconsin in Princeton's Saturday heat (11:40 am ET/8:40 am local), the Tigers will need a top-two finish to finally avoid the repechage and have a rested boat for the grand final.
"It is really important for us to do well enough in the heat to go straight to finals," senior co-captain Christina Warren said. "Rowing fewer meters than other crews can never hurt during championship racing. However, while it is obviously the goal is not to have to race reps, I believe that we can still perform just as well the next day in finals if we do have to race a rep. We've trained so that our bodies will be able to handle tight race turnarounds, so I think it is more about keeping a positive and confident mindset no matter the circumstances moving into the big race on Sunday."
Reigning IRA champion Stanford enters the weekend as the top seed, so there is a good chance the second spot in the final could come down to Princeton and Wisconsin. Those two split during the season — the Tigers were the faster crew at the Knecht Cup — and one will have a big advantage for Sunday's grand final (2:40 pm ET/11:40 local).
Princeton raced once since Sprints — a Senior Day home regatta with Stanford — but they feel like they have gained speed since then.
"One particular strength of our team this year is our ability to feed off of all the internal drive, even when we don't have the opportunity to piece against other boats," freshman Emma Hopkins said, one of three newcomers in the Princeton 1V this year. "I think we have done a good job at continuing to raise our own level of competition even with a break from racing the league. Although, since this is my first year, I don't have anything to compare this year's Sprints to IRA period with, I've been really encouraged by how productive it has been. The break from competition has allowed us to both really hone in on some technical issues and put in some heavy training weeks."
Princeton could also build on a thrilling race on Lake Quinsigamond for the Sprints final. The Tigers' late charge moved them past Boston University for the medal stand, and they may have caught Wisconsin if the course had 50 more meters. Of course, catching Stanford and Radcliffe will be another challenge, but the Tigers now know what speed it can produce under the pressure of a six-boat championship race.
"We took a lot of confidence moving out of Sprints," Warren said. "It was a hell of a race, and I think we all proved that we were willing to gut ourselves for each other on the course. We did leave with a bit of a chip on our shoulders, though, and that was one of the major motivating factors for our training the past four weeks. The field is so strong this year, and it is so much fun to have races like we did at Sprints, but it's obviously even more fun to win them, and we fully believe we can take a huge swing at IRAs this weekend."
Princeton will also send a four and a double to the IRA Championships this weekend. The four has earned bronze at IRAs in each of the last two years.
V8
Saturday Heat: 11:40 am ET (8:40)
(2) Princeton, (3) Stanford, (4) Wisconsin, (5) Georgetown
Sunday grand/petite finals: 2:40/1:30 ET (11:40/10:30)
V4
Saturday Heat: 12:10 pm ET (9:10)
(2) Princeton, (3) Wisconsin, (4) MIT, (5) Radcliffe
Sunday grand final: 11:50 am ET (8:50)
V2
Saturday Heat: 11:30 am ET (8:30)
(1) Boston Univ., (2) Princeton, (3) Radcliffe, (4) Wisconsin, (5) MIT, (6) Stanford
Sunday grand final: 11:00 (8:00)
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Rowing - Lightweight
/ Women's Rowing - Lightweight
Tuesday, June 04
Wednesday, June 22
Tuesday, June 07
Monday, June 06