Friday, June 1
West Windsor, N.J.
8:00 AM
Princeton University
vs
IRA Championships
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
After Sprints Silver, Lightweight Women Will Race For IRA Title Sunday At 7:44 AM
May 30, 2018 | Women's Rowing - Lightweight
Saturday Update: Due to weather projections, the lightweight women's grand final will now be held at 7:44 am. Princeton raced for lanes Saturday morning and placed third — right where it is seeded — so the grand final will include Stanford (Lane 1), Boston University (2), Princeton (3), Georgetown (4), Wisconsin (5), MIT (6), and Radcliffe (7). Princeton will also race in the VL4 grand final at 9:15 am, and in the double final at 9:36 am. The full schedule for Sunday and all lane assignments can be found here.
The IRA Championships preview is below.
When Boston University edged past Stanford during an early-April showdown on the Charles River, it assured those two programs would be the featured squads for the IRA Championships two months later.
Princeton sophomore Emma Hopkins is just fine with that.
"I love the position our boat is in," she said. "It is great that the pressure is on the two top-ranked teams, and we just get to go race. We've got a lineup of girls who thrive on a bit of that underdog spirit, and we cannot wait for some fierce racing this week."
The Princeton lightweight women aren't complete underdogs this weekend at the 2018 IRA Championships in nearby West Windsor, N.J. The Tigers have medaled at three straight postseason events, including the 2017 IRA Championships, and have proven that they belong in the conversation with the elite programs in the nation.
2018 IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS LINKS
But when it comes to projecting the favorites this weekend, Stanford and Boston University have both earned that honor, and the pressure that comes with it. Stanford, coached by former Princeton NCAA champion and 2016 Olympian Kate Bertko '06, is the reigning IRA champion, while Boston University followed its dual win over the Cardinal with a Sprints title last month.
But the Terriers weren't the only boat that left Lake Quinsigamond excited about what it had just accomplished. Princeton flipped a pair of earlier losses to Georgetown, and they fought off Georgetown to take the silver medal, its best Sprints result since 2011.
"We have learned several lessons the hard way, with a very up and down regular season, but we were able to execute a great, and, honestly, really fun piece at Sprints," said Hopkins, who raced in the 2017 IRA final as a freshman. "We definitely left Worcester a little hungry, but also with a great confidence boost, knowing that we could show the same speed against other teams that we'd been showing in practice. That confidence in each other, in my opinion, has elevated our training since."
Classmate Georgia Hellard Timm, who also raced in the IRA final as a freshman last season, agreed.
"We took a lot of confidence from Sprints," she said. "We'd raced a few races at that point that we felt weren't really representative of our speed, and so we were really excited for it to come together for an important race. We've definitely taken it as a model for how we want to race, only next time faster."
Unlike the other three Princeton programs, which raced for league championships in mid-May, the lightweight women raced at Sprints five weeks ago. They know that the rest of the field will be faster, but they also believe in the work they just put in.
"We have been honing in on some specific individual changes the last few weeks, and we're excited to see how each of us can give the boat a few more seconds," Hopkins said.
In previous years, Princeton has had the pressure of the opening heat in its chase for IRA medals, and often times falling into the repechage hurt those goals. Due to the number of V8 entries, the Tigers will only race for its championship lane on Saturday morning at 8:30. They know they'll race for gold at 11:20 Sunday at Lake Mercer.
Princeton will enter three boats, including a four and a double. The four will also race for its championship lane, though the double will need to advance either through the Saturday early morning heat (8 am) or the 11:15 repechage.
The IRA Championships preview is below.
When Boston University edged past Stanford during an early-April showdown on the Charles River, it assured those two programs would be the featured squads for the IRA Championships two months later.
Princeton sophomore Emma Hopkins is just fine with that.
"I love the position our boat is in," she said. "It is great that the pressure is on the two top-ranked teams, and we just get to go race. We've got a lineup of girls who thrive on a bit of that underdog spirit, and we cannot wait for some fierce racing this week."
The Princeton lightweight women aren't complete underdogs this weekend at the 2018 IRA Championships in nearby West Windsor, N.J. The Tigers have medaled at three straight postseason events, including the 2017 IRA Championships, and have proven that they belong in the conversation with the elite programs in the nation.
2018 IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS LINKS
| Live Video | Live Results | Spectator Information |
| Schedule/Heat Draw | Tigers Win Sprints Silver | Princeton's IRA History |
But when it comes to projecting the favorites this weekend, Stanford and Boston University have both earned that honor, and the pressure that comes with it. Stanford, coached by former Princeton NCAA champion and 2016 Olympian Kate Bertko '06, is the reigning IRA champion, while Boston University followed its dual win over the Cardinal with a Sprints title last month.
But the Terriers weren't the only boat that left Lake Quinsigamond excited about what it had just accomplished. Princeton flipped a pair of earlier losses to Georgetown, and they fought off Georgetown to take the silver medal, its best Sprints result since 2011.
"We have learned several lessons the hard way, with a very up and down regular season, but we were able to execute a great, and, honestly, really fun piece at Sprints," said Hopkins, who raced in the 2017 IRA final as a freshman. "We definitely left Worcester a little hungry, but also with a great confidence boost, knowing that we could show the same speed against other teams that we'd been showing in practice. That confidence in each other, in my opinion, has elevated our training since."
Classmate Georgia Hellard Timm, who also raced in the IRA final as a freshman last season, agreed.
"We took a lot of confidence from Sprints," she said. "We'd raced a few races at that point that we felt weren't really representative of our speed, and so we were really excited for it to come together for an important race. We've definitely taken it as a model for how we want to race, only next time faster."
Unlike the other three Princeton programs, which raced for league championships in mid-May, the lightweight women raced at Sprints five weeks ago. They know that the rest of the field will be faster, but they also believe in the work they just put in.
"We have been honing in on some specific individual changes the last few weeks, and we're excited to see how each of us can give the boat a few more seconds," Hopkins said.
In previous years, Princeton has had the pressure of the opening heat in its chase for IRA medals, and often times falling into the repechage hurt those goals. Due to the number of V8 entries, the Tigers will only race for its championship lane on Saturday morning at 8:30. They know they'll race for gold at 11:20 Sunday at Lake Mercer.
Princeton will enter three boats, including a four and a double. The four will also race for its championship lane, though the double will need to advance either through the Saturday early morning heat (8 am) or the 11:15 repechage.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Rowing - Lightweight
/ Women's Rowing - Lightweight
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