Knecht Cup - Fours

The Knecht Cup has a healthy group of 17 light fours entered, including three from Princeton and two each from Wisconsin and Radcliffe. Three fours from Princeton suggests that they either have a really deep team or are doubling up varsity eight rowers. Some others also entering fours are Georgetown, MIT, CMU, and Pitt, winners at Murphy Cup. Regatta host Villanova, which has raced a light eight this year, is only racing a four, as is Lehigh, which was ranked number ten on the coaches lightweight eight poll. If they don't race an eight here, either they don't have an eight or they shouldn't be number ten. NC State is racing and they had some success in the four in the Fall. Penn State brings a four but no eight, which is disappointing because they had some success in the Fall with a light eight. UMass and Susqehanna round out the field.

This will be a rematch for all of the Murphy Cup competitors, which gives CMU, which lost to Pitt by 5 seconds at Murphy, another shot to close the gap. It doesn't quite look like the lanes are seeded because I think it unlikely that Wisco A would be seeded below UMass and NC State. On the other hand, host Villanova is in lane two, which suggests a seeding while at the same time giving them a favored lane should the wind kick up.