The Stage is Set
All the players in today's drama played their roles perfectly. Wisconsin and Princeton both won, as their opponents fell into ranked order behind them. In Indianapolis, Wisconsin beat Stanford by 3 seconds, Georgetown by 11 seconds, and Ohio State by about 30 seconds. In Boston, Princeton beat Radcliffe by 11 seconds.
Both Wisconsin and Princeton were 3 seconds up on Stanford, while Wisconsin has been consistently 11 seconds faster than Georgetown, who was only 5.5 seconds off of Princeton. Wisconsin beat Radcliffe at Knecht by 22.5 seconds, as compared to Princeton's 11 seconds.
We can look at all of that and say that Wisconsin deserves its number one ranking, with Princeton a close second. I look at it and say one more thing - the momentum belongs to Stanford. The Cardinal seems to be the boat that is gaining speed faster than the others. Dare I suggest that this might be Stanford's year? Rowing is funny like that - it doesn't matter how fast you are during the season, it only matters how fast you are at the end.
Well, tuck the mental picture of Stanford standing on the medal dock in Camden in the back of your mind as we move on to more conventional thoughts. Eastern Sprints on May 13th has all
the makings of a clash of Titans. While on paper Wisconsin appears to have the edge, the reality is that it's just too close to even hazard a guess. Georgetown and Radcliffe (who also seems to have gained a fair amount of speed) won't let Sprints turn into a two boat race, but we'll all be waiting to see what happens the first time Wisconsin and Princeton line up next to each other this season.
In the 2V, which will be a Sprints event for the first time this year, Princeton handily defeated Radcliffe by 24 seconds. We have yet to see Wisconsin race an actual 2V, so they'll be a complete unknown going into the regatta. More Wisco - Princeton drama.
Princeton's four won their race by 21 seconds. In freshmen races, Radcliffe remains undefeated as they beat Princeton by 16 seconds. The Wisconsin freshmen beat heavyweight boats from Purdue and Ohio State.
11 comments:
Were the Radcliffe freshmen really faster than Princeton's varsity?
I noticed that too. I was going to say something about it, but I don't know if there were floating starts or stakeboat starts. Princeton's 2V was only 3 seconds off their 1V, while Radcliffe's 2V was a more usual 16 seconds off their 1V. This might suggest the times actually are comparable. In the end though, I think you just have to remember that it's pretty hard to compare across races, and impossible if there were floating starts.
the starts were stakeboats
Conditions were nearly perfect throughout the day, so times between races are more comparable than usual. I only watched the novices go by, though, and didn't see the varsity race.
I suppose one could look at the light but variable wind:
http://cbiwind.org/
YES THEY WERE FASTER! It was an incredable thing to watch.
Any thoughts on the lwt fours race in the Midwest?
georgetown won at about 7:51, standford came in second at 7:57 , and wosco in third at 8:00, a considerable improvement judging they were I believe about 30 seconds off of georgetown at knecht. I wonder if it was the same boat.
Wisco's 4 was the same as at Knecht
The Wisco 4 rowed together for the first time at Knecht. They have at least doubled their number of rows together since then.
In the fours race, Stanford led by open water until maybe 750 to go, when one of their rowers came off her seat and they had to stop for a few strokes. then Georgetown passed for the lead.
does anyone know how the varsity 8 races played out in Indy and Boston? we saw the final margins but are there any race reports?
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