Sunday, April 09, 2006

Knecht Cup - Rule of Four(s)

Princeton won the lightweight fours at the Knecht Cup with an 8 second victory over MIT, who was followed 3 seconds later by Radcliffe. Princeton appeared to be in control of this race at least from the 1000 meter mark, which is the first point spectators can really make out what's happening. The heat times showed MIT to be 30 seconds faster than the other two heat winners, a result that looked quite suspicious. [Update: See comment for an explanation.] That split proved false, but MIT didn't, turning in a fine second place result. Carnegie Mellon also turned in a good result, placing 5th in the grand final, just behind Wisconsin's A boat. Villanova in 6th, closed the gap to 7 seconds from 18 on CMU. This was a strong win for Princeton and shows the depth of the team. It also suggests that no seat is safe in the V8 since there are obviously some strong rowers in the four.

Princeton's B boat won the petites, followed by Georgetown and St. Joseph's. St. Joe's, by the way, appears to be racing a light four the rest of the season, not a light eight.

[A few more photos to come.]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the times for heat 2 were not incorrect-- our race was just shorter by almost 200m! after giving up on the stake boats, they floated us out 50m. and then we false started there. so then we moved up another hundred or so meters, trying to get everyone realigned. that's how the lightning fast heat times can be explained.