Princeton - Bucknell Heavies

The Bucknell heavyweights showed up to race the Princeton lightweights today, winning by 10 seconds. Reports from the race suggest this was a typical lightweight vs heavyweight race - Princeton shot out at the start, rowing high, to take 3 or 4 seats, during the body Bucknell moved out on Princeton while understroking them by 3 or 4 strokes, Princeton moved back a bit in the sprint with Bucknell recovering the seats with their own rate increase. Apparently Princeton looked a bit more together than last year, while still suffering from an inability to lengthen. Official results note, and spectators confirm, that the headwind was strongest during the 1V race, creating a bit of an advantage for the heavyweights. The 2V fought a seesaw battle but with the heavy 2V staying alongside at a lower rate, the outcome (a Princeton loss by a little more than 2 seconds) was a foregone conclusion. The Princeton light frosh, meanwhile, handily won by 26 seconds.

This was a good first race for Princeton because it was a gimme. The meaning of the result is unclear because they raced a heavyweight boat (which contained 2 members of last year's IRA boat). While I still suspect that by the end of the year the IRA champ should beat the Bucknell boat, at this stage of the season Bucknell was racing for the third time while Princeton heard their first shots fired in anger. Also, with less time together as a crew, power (heavyweights) trumps rate (lightweights). Nonetheless, despite all of the yeah, buts, Princeton is left with a season opening loss, a loss that will add urgency to their training, not complacency. If Princeton is timing its peak properly, this is the kind of first race we might expect from the Tigers. No doubt they'll begin increasing their interval work as they head into the body of their schedule. Next week will tell us more.

We also learned that Bucknell will not race a lightweight boat until IRAs.

Georgetown - Radcliffe

Now that the results are posted, we see that Georgetown beat Radcliffe by just under 1 second. The Radcliffe release on the race notes that the Black and White were up a length at the 1000 meter mark, but the Hoyas reeled them back in. That should be an ominous sign for future Georgetown opponents - a crew that doesn't panic, doesn't feel it needs to win the race at the start, and now a crew with confidence in itself. As I said, a bow ball or a length, this is an excellent win for Georgetown. Knecht Cup will be a great race!

As we look through the other races, we first notice that the Radcliffe 2V beat Georgetown's 2v by a bit more than 23 seconds. Clearly Radcliffe has some athletes able to challenge for the 1V, and I'm certain the Black and White will spend the next couple of weeks trying to figure out if they have the right combination. For Georgetown, the race was close enough that they realize they can't rest on their laurels (not that they would anyway) and will be doing the very same thing.

Radcliffe also won the 4 and the F8. This was the first test for the Radcliffe freshmen who dominated in the fall, and they passed by 14 seconds.

Georgetown is for real, and they're not going away. At this point in the season, we can say something that I don't know has ever been said about women's lightweights - we have a four way dog fight for best in the nation, and all the dogs have yet to show their fangs.

Reader Comment - Georgetown beats Radcliffe

A reader just posted a comment saying that Georgetown has beaten Radcliffe this morning. I don't know by how much, but even if it's a bow ball, the Hoyas have just made a statement. It's going to be a hot spring! More when we see the full results.

Lightweight Roundup

A reader beat me to the Princeton preview (thanks for the link) and noted that it was a bit "uninformative." Agreed, although for someone not familiar with what happened last season and in the fall, it set the stage. Most interesting to me was Coach Rassam's tone, which I would characterize as cautious optimism. It's probably just about the right tone to take, implying confidence in his crews but praising those new to the top of the league and noting the growing strength of the category.

We have some newly posted results from Ohio State's dual with Purdue last weekend in which the lights raced Purdue's heavyweight JV, getting knocked about a bit and finishing 27 seconds back. I'm not all that sure what this tells us because it's early in the season and Purdue can put out some strong crews. I wish they'd crank up their lightweight machine which won Dad Vails a few years ago.

Dayton has a preview of their Cincinnati race.

Wisconsin heads south for spring break, which is about two weeks later this year. Sounds like there was some cause for concern because of the long unbroken indoor training period (ugh!) but the coaches feel everyone came through it OK. We'll have to see if it causes the Badgers to get going a little later than most years.

A UCF release notes that the crews are heading into the difficult part of their schedule.

Although a juniors story, the Washington Post has an item of interest as it notes that "the National Capital Area Scholastic Rowing Association is using a "lightweight management" program, designed to ensure that lightweight rowers (boys under 150 pounds, girls under 130) make their weight in a healthy fashion. Rowers must be certified by a trainer, and U.S. Rowing is looking at the process with an eye toward using it in other parts of the country . . ."

A January 2007 study is out that suggests "although carbohydrate and sodium intake may be important in the recovery period between weigh-in and 2000-m rowing ergometer performance, fluid intake has a greater influence on performance among lightweight male rowers who undertake short-term weight loss to achieve specified body-mass limits." This study was done on men and I can't get to the whole thing, but you can see the abstract here.

Finally, here's news about a device we needed during the winter. For those of you with erg related back problems - a boat powered by an elliptical machine!

Duals this weekend

Two more Sprints schools swing into action this weekend as Radcliffe travels to Georgetown and Princeton welcomes Bucknell.

On Saturday Radcliffe and Georgetown battle over the Class of 2004 Cup. And I do mean battle. Radcliffe is looking for revenge and Georgetown is ready to prove that 2006 was no fluke. The Harvard Crimson article I linked to previously plays right into these themes:

The Radliffe lightweights will look to avenge this late-season turn-for-the-worse in the coming weekend against those very Hoyas.

Next Saturday, the Black and White will travel to Georgetown for the first meet of its young season, and, more importantly, for its first chance at redemption.

Having failed to win an IRA national championship over the past ten years, defeats such as the ones incurred at the hands of the Hoyas and Wisconsin last year are striking setbacks.

But these challenges motivate the squad, and, with the spring season about to begin, the team is ready.

The fact is, Radcliffe is strong this year, and could very well dominate the entire league, not just Georgetown.

Then again, shall we just stop taking the Hoyas for granted right now? This was the second place team in the nation - a position earned, not given. Last year was a breakthrough season and this race will be the first opportunity for Georgetown to state, once and for all, that it was only the beginning. Second was great, once. Now it's on to the championship, and the trip begins Saturday.

On Sunday, Princeton takes on Bucknell. We don't know if it will be a lightweight or a heavyweight Bucknell boat. Rumors still persist that the Bison will only race heavyweights until the IRAs, but the last Bucknell press release stated that the "lightweights" will be racing at Princeton. I've asked Bucknell for some clarification, but I haven't yet received a response.

For the Tigers, however, it doesn't really matter if it's the heavyweights or the lightweights, because a crew that hopes to win IRAs must beat either boat. While there is almost no way to actually compare speed, I think you can make a pretty good case for saying that the lightweight IRA champion is faster than the Dad Vail heavyweight champion. Bucknell heavies were in the petites the last two years, but even if you assume they win Dad Vail this year (although it's not on their schedule), Princeton must be faster if they want to be on track for an IRA championship. This will be a nice race for Princeton and given that it's early in the season (when brute force often dominates skill), this could be a bit of a see-saw battle.

As for Bucknell's plans for the rest of the season, we'll know a little bit more when we see who races at Princeton. [Update: See comment for an interesting take on this.]

Crew Classic, NCRC, and Other Races This Weekend

The San Diego Crew Classic is this weekend, a regatta which has the potential to be a lightweight showcase on the West Coast, but has seen some dropping entries (the entire regatta has experienced a bit of trouble in this regard). Heck, the event even has a named cup for a trophy - the A.W. Coggeshall Cup. Last year, however, only two eights raced - Stanford and Wisconsin. (It's hard to think of the Crew Classic without thinking of the Wisconsin pep band wading into Mission Bay to play "On Wisconsin" for the lightweights.) This year showed signs of improvement though, as five boats were entered - Cal, LMU, Stanford, Chapman, and Arizona State. Unfortunately, LMU and Cal scratched and we're down to three boats. Still an exciting race for those three, but it would be nice to see a bigger field. Maybe we could get the Dad Vail committee talking to the Crew Classic committee and together they could create some incentive for crews to come to these events. Two excellent events suffering from low entries (makes you think it might be important for lightweight crews to race lightweight events). The West Coast is producing more consistent lightweight boats, however, and I'm hopeful that this event quickly returns to at least its 2005 level when 9 boats entered.

I was concerned that the Cal and LMU scratches had ominous undertones for the rest of the season, but both coaches have told me that their eights will continue to race this spring. Cal suffered a sudden rash of injuries, nearly all non-rowing related (don't these women have restricted activities in their contracts?), but they'll be back and ready to go at Windermere. LMU experienced some recent sickness as well as logistical problems with the race (including some lights holding seats in heavy boats). They too will be back for Windermere.

Now, for the race at hand. While not a known quantity at the start of the year, we know that Stanford will put out a good eight. They've already had some good races this year, just barely missing out on second in the heavy race at Sacramento State. The Cardinal will come to town as the favorite, and ready to race. Chapman hasn't raced an eight yet this season (that I'm aware of), so this race will show us what they have. The same goes for Arizona State. I love to see new lightweight crews racing and ASU, which just got into WIRA, seems to be on the upswing. We'll see if they can hang with Stanford.

The NCRC Invitational is this weekend in Vancouver, Washington. I haven't been able to locate a schedule, but I would expect at least Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound to race.

The University Rowing Association Championships take place on Sunday outside of Pittsburgh. Wash U. and Carnegie Mellon will face off in light fours (no Pittsburgh? Invitations are restricted - see comments).

Dayton faces off against Cincinnati, Indiana, and Eastern Michigan, while rival Ohio State takes on Michigan State (a club team?). I'm not sure if there will be any lightweight races at these regattas. I think this will be Ohio State's first race of the spring.

Race Tomorrow and More Press

In a rare mid-week dual, Stanford will be racing Santa Clara tomorrow in Los Gatos. This is a bit of a re-match as the Cardinal and the Broncos met up a few weeks ago at the Sacramento Invitational. Racing in the heavy eight event, Stanford finished just 9 seconds ahead of Santa Clara, while in the light four, Stanford was nearly 35 seconds ahead of the Santa Clara crew. This should be a good race as SC will certainly be looking for revenge.

Lehigh's gold medal winning lightweights took the headline of the Mountain Hawks' Murphy Cup press release. Also making Murphy Cup headlines were Villanova's lights for the light four's performance. It's nice to see the Wildcat lightweights back in the news.

Duquesne's press release notes the lightweights' fine performance against Dayton, listing the four's victory as well as the eight's win in the second of two races. Speaking of Dayton, the student newspaper has a nice season preview, which notes the Flyers' nice finishes last year.

Radcliffe Press Release

Harvard athletics published a nice press release on the Radcliffe lights. Some highlights:

- Five returning seniors
- Three rowers participated in a U23 camp last summer
- Freshmen dominated in the fall (did we mention that here once or twice?)

The most significant fact for me is the participation of three athletes in the U23 sculling camp. I know the sweep rower ethos, because at one point I drank the Kool-Aid along with everyone else - scullers are pansies, they're loners, they think technique is important, their catches are too soft, they're too in control. Uh-huh. Keep thinking those thoughts as as you suck down their wake. Those of you who are only sweep rowers don't believe me now, but to learn to scull well is to learn to move a boat. While sweep "hammers" wrench in oars, throw their bodies around the boat, and burst veins in their necks, scullers impassively turn pain into poetry while defying observers to know the difference between the paddle and full pressure by anything other than boat speed. Why? Because they know that any errant movement will upset the balance of a boat, that any wasted energy will come back to haunt you when you are the only engine. Don't get me wrong, I like to jump into the engine room of an eight and whale on the oar as much as the next person, but if you can scull, you can make any boat go fast. If you look back at my summer nationals post, you'll see the names of those Radcliffe rowers mentioned. (UCF had two rowers sculling at Nationals while Princeton and Bucknell each had one. And don't forget Bucknell's fall sculling program.) I'll get down off of my soapbox now, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Speaking of warning, I said before that when Radcliffe meets Princeton on April 28th it will be a 1 vs. 2 race. This will be Princeton's first race with any of last year's top three crews, while Radcliffe will have won Knecht (not a particularly bold call, assuming Wisco has their usual slow start). This may very well be Princeton's first wake up call of the year and the rest of their season will depend on how well they handle it.

More Results...

What a day in Tacoma Washington! The Daffodil Cup went off Saturday in the face of tremendous wind and rain, although the last five events had to be canceled as a result of the horrendous conditions. How horrendous? Well, when it takes fours over ten minutes to run the course, you know you have a bit of a head wind. A head wind like that, unfortunately, will just about kill the chances of any lightweight crew racing heavyweights, which is what several lightweight boats did.

I haven't yet seen the official results, but a reader was kind enough to post them in a comment, and noted that "B" boats were lightweight boats. Pacific Lutheran raced a light eight in the 2V event, finishing second behind Puget Sound but ahead of Lewis and Clark. PLU raced a light four in the heavy four event, and saw the head wind push them to the back of the field, 75 seconds off of their own winning heavy four. A Puget Sound B boat (lightweight) raced in the heavyweight novice eight, finishing third out of three. A PLU B boat raced in the heavyweight 2V four event, finishing behind Puget sound and Lewis and Clark heavies, but ahead of a Portland heavyweight boat.

All in all it had to have been an incredibly difficult day, even more so for lightweights trying to cut through a headwind. I guess the only thing to do on days like that is to think of Nietszche.

In Oklahoma, Tulsa and Creighton locked horns in lightweight fours with Tulsa coming out on top by 5 seconds. Tulsa has a pretty decent four so Creighton shows some potential in this race.

In Los Angeles, LMU put their light eight out a combination novice/lightweight boat to face USC's 3V8 and novice 8. LMU was third, 53 seconds behind the 3V and 30 seconds behind the novice. USC is a powerful squad, but I think these results reflect an off day (or a different crew) for LMU. [Update: Thanks to a reader for clearing up the LMU boating.]

In the Berg Cup at Newport Beach, Long Beach State raced a light eight in the 2V race, winning the event over heavies from USD, UCSD, and Chapman. Long Beach State was 12 seconds ahead of second place USD.

More Saturday Results

Dayton and Duquesne raced light eights and light fours at their dual in Dayton. The Flyers won the eight by 24 seconds, a strong showing for Dayton. A second lineup was raced, which was won by Duquesne. I don't know if this was a 2V or just switched seats. It would be great if these two programs had enough lightweights for a second eight, but I suspect it was a combination of switched seats and new rowers. Duquesne won the light four by 16 seconds.

At the Blue Heron Sprints in Eureka, Humboldt State's light four won a combo light/JV race over Humboldt's JV, Seattle Pacific, and Mills. It's not clear if the latter two boats were lightweight or heavyweight.

At the Petrakis Cup in Florida, UCF came in first and second in the light four, beating a Jacksonville boat. In the heavy eight event, the lights were third, behind their own heavies and Miami's heavies, but beating heavyweights from Jacksonville and Tulane.

In Washington DC the Georgetown freshmen lights raced George Mason, North Carolina, and their own heavies. In two separate races the frosh beat their own heavies and George Mason's heavies, while losing to North Carolina's 2F heavies in a separate race. Somewhat convoluted story here.

No news yet on the Daffodil Cup in Tacoma.

Pitt Odds and Ends

You'll remember that the HOCR fours post generated some comments about erg scores and resulted in an extended ergers vs rowers discussion. The point, of course, was that good ergers aren't necessarily good rowers. Well, since the fall, it appears that those four rowers put in the work necessary to drop their scores. The one athlete left with an erg score above 8:00, weighs about 100 pounds so she can afford to give up some time. Apparently that rower just avoided the lightweight nightmare, when a coach says, "You're going to be a coxswain." (And you want to say, "I'm a rower, nitwit.") Just a guess, but I think there's a coach in western PA that's pretty glad he's down one coxswain. This is always a great story because FITD readers know that I love to see boat movers make a mockery of low erg scores (Hmm, think that has anything to do with my own erging ability?).

Murphy Cup

Today was gray and cool in Philadelphia as crews boated out for the light four and eight events at the Murphy Cup. First up, at 3pm, was the six boat light four race. Pittsburgh, the favorite in this race, came in with big momentum and equally big expectations. The rest of the field, if they paid attention at all, knew they would be sorely tested. In-town rival, Carnegie Mellon, knew that simply to win local supremacy, they would have to be one of the best light fours in the nation. For the rest of the field, in a quick 7 to 7 and a half minutes (doesn't feel quick, does it?) they'd know where they stood.

Although I didn't actually see any, it was a difficult day for starts, as they were floating and there was a decent current. At least that's what a few complaining coaches said. However the start of the fours would go, it wasn't going to be a big factor in this race. By the time the crews neared the wire at the 700 meter mark, Pitt was clearly in control. They weren't pressed in the latter part of the race and barely put on a sprint, finishing with 5 or 6 lengths open on the rest of the field. Expectations fulfilled. CMU proved it's mettle finishing 14 seconds back in second. One had to wonder if in another year that row would've won it. A good race, but work ahead if they want to catch the Panthers. Placing third, 23 seconds back, was Susquehanna. An unknown quantity before this race, it will now be on a few radar screens. In fourth was Lafayette, 31 seconds back. This is a crew with several novices and although it seems like forever right now, a 30 second gap from a fast crew like Pitt shows some potential. Rounding out the field were Villanova and Sacred Heart, 36 and 43 seconds back respectively.

As one might expect at an early season race, the field was pretty dispersed as crews had varying amounts of water time and boat time. Quite honestly, the scariest thing about this race, was the fact that the Pitt boat was a bit rusty. One thing we know about this boat is that the crew knows how to row, so as they smooth out and get back that HOCR swing, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the lightweight nation. I pray the Pitt boat goes to Knecht healthy and ready to rock and roll, because that looks like their only chance to race the Sprints crews. That race will be critical to understanding how they stand in relation to those schools. Too bad it's not closer to the end of the season. Wonder if the crews could get together and set up a fours challenge race just before IRAs?

With a Bucknell scratch in the light eight (more on that later), Lehigh became the favorite. (I wonder if the Mountain Hawks learned of the scratch at the line, or prior to boating out.) As the boats neared the 750 meter mark, it looked like Lehigh may have had a length on the field, which seemed quite tight at that point. Lehigh kept that length, maybe opening it up a seat, until the finish, as Penn State came on for second. The field was spread evenly with about a length between each position, Temple and Philadelphia taking third and fourth. This was a nice race for Lehigh, as they were able to stay in control ahead of a field battling hard behind them. It was also an impressive showing for Penn State, a crew we missed last spring but who has shown flashes of potential in the past. The Temple boat, it turns out, is half novices, but I think they were close enough to Lehigh to feel good about the speed they can pick up as the season continues. Even in finishing at the back of the field, Philadelphia had a decent row, only a little over 11 seconds off the winning time. This is a very young program and they'll get faster as the season goes on. At the finish, it sounded as if some of the Philadelphia rowers were giving birth, but they'll tighten up as they get more race experience. There was some initial confusion about the results as Bucknell was listed as winning with a Penn State scratch. Turns out some of the boats went down the course with the wrong bow numbers.

The Princeton Freshmen lights made their annual pilgrimage to Philadelphia and raced in the heavyweight freshmen event. Although they weren't able to pull out the win (as they did last year), they finished a strong second, about a length and a half back from the winner Navy, and a length and a half ahead of the rest of the field.

The Bucknell scratch was not surprising as I've now heard from more than one source that they do not intend to row a lightweight eight during the season, but will weigh in rowers on schedule to qualify for IRAs. I'll have a separate post on this, one that I hope will generate some discussion. Despite some strong feelings I have about this practice, I'm not certain they're correct and I'd like to hear what you think. More on this later. First, of course, we need to remove Bucknell from the rankings, which gets Lehigh onto the list.

A Flurry of Press Releases

A flurry of press releases hit the wire over the last few days. Dayton had a great spring preview which highlighted the lightweight eight while also bringing the heavyweights into focus. The story confirms that the Flyers will race Duquesne in both the light four and the light eight. Dayton has one of the best lightweight resumes around, as they are two time winners of both the Dad Vail and the A10 lightweight titles.

The UCF release about the Petrakis Cup notes that the light eight will race in the heavy eight event while a light four event will be held. Jacksonville will have one of the light fours racing.

Georgetown is racing George Mason, George Washington, and North Carolina on the Potomac River, although it looks like only the lightweight freshmen will be participating.

The Harvard Crimson gets a week's jump on Radcliffe's opener with Georgetown by making the race out to be a real blood feud. More on that race next week.

More Races This Weekend

In addition to the Murphy Cup, there are several other races with lightweight events. On Saturday UCF hosts the Petrakis Cup with Jacksonville, Miami, and Tulane coming to town. Most of these races (all?) will be heavyweight races, but I'm sure the lights will race at home. [Update: see comments for clarification.] Dayton races Duquesne, which may involve a lightweight race. In Tacoma the Daffodil Cup will be contested, with PLU in the mix, while Seattle Pacific heads to the Blue Heron Regatta in Eureka where they'll race Humboldt State and Mills in light fours.

On Sunday, Ohio State stops off in Indianapolis on its return trip from spring break training to race Purdue, Texas, and Michigan State or Grand Valley. Also in the (more) middle of the country, Tulsa takes on Creighton in the light four. It's a big day for Tulsa, as they christen a new boat and dedicate a new boathouse, the J. Bird Sr. Shell Nest. Is that a great name or what!? Check out this sweet description of where Tulsa rows:

The Verdigris River sports a natural setting of 18 miles distance for the TU women's rowing team to practice, and the levees on either side provide calm waters even when the winds gust up to 25 mph.

Is there such a thing as too nice to row?

Murphy Cup

Last year's Murphy Cup had a nice six boat light four field, but only St. Joe's and Miami of Ohio raced the light eight, in a race won by over a minute by St. Joe's. It's a bit different this year as a six boat light four field returns, along with a five boat light eight field. In fact, the lightweight women's field is much larger than the light men, who only have three light eights entered.

The lightweight four event is comprised of Villanova, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Lafayette, Sacred Heart, and Susquehanna. This will be our first chance to see the fall's top four, Pittsburgh, which has to be the clear favorite at this point. CMU has shown the ability to stay close to [beat] Pitt in the past [here two years ago], so we'll see where they stand this year. Lafayette has been paying some attention to lightweights recently and, although this is a bit early in the season for a young boat, will be anxious to show what they can do. Villanova likes to race lightweights a few times during the season, see if they can make any noise, and then melt back into the heavies. When they do make noise, it's always in these early races. Susquehanna has been racing a light four for at least a year now, so they'll be looking for some improvement over last year. Sacred Heart is a bit of an unknown at this point.

In the eight we have Philadelphia, Temple, Penn State, Lehigh, and Bucknell. Bucknell has to be the obvious favorite in this field. It's interesting to see Bucknell in this race for several reasons. First, it's a departure from their usual practice of racing the lightweights as the 2V. Second, some of last year's lightweights have been sucked into the heavyweight boat, so this is not likely to be the fastest boat the Bison can put out. Finally, rumor has had it that Bucknell will not be racing lightweights this year. Clearly they're racing here, so I'll wait for the results before I engage in wild speculation about what they might be up to. Next we'll be looking at Lehigh. Lehigh has been gaining speed the last couple of years and this will be an excellent first test for the boat. It's fortunate for both Bucknell and Lehigh that they'll be side by side in the race. It's good to see Penn State back in the lightweight ranks. The Nittany Lions had a good fall a couple of years ago, but never carried it over into the spring. Philadelphia is a new program and is an unknown, just as Temple is. (See my last post for a bit more on Temple.)

Finally, the Princeton lightweight freshmen usually show up at this race and they're scheduled to be here again, racing in the second heat of the heavyweight novice eight event.

The Murphy Cup is a good lightweight regatta this year and really gets the season off to a great start. In this race alone we have three light eights that we didn't see last year. I'm hoping for good, tight races so that everyone stays on the right side of the Line of Hope.

Spring Regatta Results

The Pete Archer Spring Regatta in Long Beach results are out and LMU had a good day. The Lions won the light eight by 3 seconds over Cal State Long Beach and by 28 seconds over UCSD. LMU followed up the 2k win with a 1k win over CSULB by 1 second.

The LMU boat contained a rower who won the national championship in the intermediate light quad and silver in both the intermediate and senior light double at nationals last summer. It looks like LMU can put out a pretty good light eight this year and with a few weeks until Windermere, they should be able to give Stanford and the Easties a good run.

Lightweights in Philadelphia

A reader wrote to note a new high school lightweight policy for the Pennsylvania Scholastic Rowing Association. A "Lightweight Certification Letter" is required of all lightweight rowers. The reader notes that this looks like a good policy, but some schools will probably choose not to race in some lightweight events to avoid the hassle, and goes on to say that "How to thread the needle and have safe weight policies that encourage natural lightweight seating in boats, while at the same time not creating an unreasonable liability hurdle for schools that will result in further dropping of lightweight participation, will be the task."

It's tempting to believe that those who can't be bothered probably also can't be bothered worrying about natural lightweights and safe weight management. That's likely to be wrong, however, and this is probably a case where rowers should take it upon themselves to remind coaches that they want to compete in lightweight events and are willing to bird-dog the letter through its hoops.

Also from Philadelphia, is a story about Temple's upcoming Murphy Cup races. It mentions Temple's light four race at the Keuper Cup in Florida. Temple also has a light eight entered at Murphy (more on that tomorrow). I think this is big news if Temple is getting serious about lightweight rowing, even if it's only for this year. It's a disgrace that there are no lightweight programs in the Philadelphia area, a hotbed of rowing. Some of the smaller Dad Vail schools could have a real impact if they focused on lightweights, instead of providing cannon fodder for the big heavyweight programs. In the Sprints League, Penn should clearly have lightweight women. Their heavyweight women have been mediocre and they have the example of the light men who had a surprisingly good season a few years ago. When the light men medaled at IRAs it was a surprise to even find the Penn name in a grand final.

Temple is a program that could focus on lightweights and almost immediately do damage on the national scene. They want to play with the big girls and that would get them there. We'll see what kind of success they have and where it takes them.

Last Weekend's Races, and the NCRC

Last weekend was a difficult weekend for racing in the Philadelphia area as a snow and ice storm canceled Lehigh's races in the city as well as the Jesuit Invitational in Camden.

There's always racing in Florida though, and UCF went up against heavyweights from Nova Southeastern, Jacksonville, Rollins, and Georgia in the eight and the four. The Golden Knights finished behind Nova and Jacksonville, but ahead of Rollins and UGA in both races. In the eight, UCF was 12 seconds off of Nova and 5 seconds off of Jacksonville, while the margins narrowed a bit in the four. UCF was closer to Nova last week.

On the West Coast Seattle Pacific and Pacific Lutheran battled it out in Seattle. The V8 race (which a reader tells me was between the schools' lightweight boats) was a barnburner, with SPU winning by less than a second over PLU. The PLU light four raced in the JV four event, finishing 17 seconds behind their own heavy four, but 10 seconds ahead of the SPU heavy four.

A reader posted a comment to my last post noting that the Northwest College Rowing Conference includes lightweight eight and four races. I've added those races to the calendar. A look at PLU's schedule shows the IRA regatta listed so it looks like they're serious about lightweights. (It's not listed on SPU's schedule.) PLU has been a frequent lightweight competitor but you never know if they'll be racing from year to year. Imprecise results reporting doesn't help either. Now that I know, I'll keep an eye out for lightweight racing in the NCRC.

Fight in the Dog's 2007 Pre-Season Ranking

It's time again for my most foolhardy post of the year - the pre-season rankings. I was tempted to just go with the Readers' Poll this year, but I thought that would be taking the easy way out. I'm not that much different than the poll, and many places are really a toss-up, but here goes:

1. Princeton
2. Wisconsin
3. Radcliffe
4. Georgetown
5. MIT
6. UCF
7. Stanford
8. Bucknell
9. Dayton
10. Ohio State

Princeton as number one seems an easy choice and on paper it is. The Tigers won the HOCR and dominated the Princeton Chase. They have every rower back [although losing the coxswain,] from last year's IRA boat. When the seniors were freshmen they dominated Sprints and the Knecht Cup. When the juniors were freshmen, they too dominated, winning Sprints by 9 seconds and winning the heavyweight freshmen eight at Knecht (there was no freshmen light eight). Know what the sophomores did as freshmen? Yup, dominated. Despite the possibility that winning the Head of the Charles is lightweight rowing's version of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, Princeton has to be the heavy favorite heading into this season. Even more impressive to me was the fact that Princeton's 2V was second at the Chase, suggesting that there will be serious competition throughout the season for 1V seats, keeping the boat fast and on its toes.

Where can Princeton go wrong? The most obvious concern is injuries. Just as important as 1V injuries, however, are 2V injuries because Princeton's most powerful asset may be its depth. The other area where Princeton can run into trouble is technical execution. Both results and observation show that the Tigers only occasionally hit on all cylinders in 2006. Highly variable results suggest that the problem is more likely to be technique than power. If Princeton rows well, rows together, avoids gymnasts, and consistently competes for seats, they will be champions at the end of the year.

Wisconsin lost 5 athletes [rowers and the coxswain] from last year's IRA boat and one might be tempted to think they are in a rebuilding mode. They are getting used to a new coach and possibly a new style, both of which can cause a little short-term upset. One might not expect the Badgers to be as dominant as in past years. HOCR showed that would be a mistake. Wisconsin has dominated lightweight women's rowing for so long that it's hard to imagine the Badgers having a down year. Their HOCR finish and the respect engendered by their dominance of the last three years puts Wisconsin at 2.

Radcliffe is a program that seems to clearly be on the upswing and could easily finish in any of the top three positions (as was the case last year). With only two losses from an extremely fast boat last season, the Black and White will be in the hunt all year. With this ranking simply providing a place to start the season, I'd be shocked if Radcliffe never moved higher than third. Given Wisconsin's propensity for a slow start, I expect the April 28th Radcliffe-Princeton race to be a critical test for both crews and, just as it was last year, likely a 1 vs 2 matchup.

Georgetown, on the heels of a great season last year, gets slotted in at fourth. They obviously have the potential to do better than that, but they also have their work cut out for them to do it. As the second place team in the nation last season, they get the benefit of the doubt over MIT, with whom they traded finishing positions at HOCR and the Chase. MIT comes in at fifth, after winning the petites at IRAs last year and an excellent HOCR finish. With a strong tradition and good local competition, the league has been waiting for MIT to raise some Cain, and this year may be the start.

Placing sixth, a spot lower than last year's finish, is UCF. This placing doesn't so much reflect an expectation of less potential as it does concern that some of UCF's depth is being siphoned off to the heavyweights. Although they may all be back for IRAs, there will be some penalty for having to switch into a new team and likely a slightly different style. Stanford's placement at 7th reflects a belief that the Cardinal is also a program on the upswing. The days of believing that Stanford is such an athletic campus that a program of complete walk-ons can win national championships are over. More recruits means a more hard core rowing mind-set, and that means more speed. Stanford has the potential to be the biggest positive surprise of the season.

At 8th, Bucknell suffers from the same concern as UCF - that lightweights are being sucked into the heavyweight program. If all the lightweights are available to row lightweight, they'll be faster than this. If not, they could very well be slower. Dayton and Ohio State round out the top ten. Dayton has shown that they can consistently have a reasonably fast light eight. Now they need to get fast enough to break into the grand at IRAs. Ohio State has a new coach and gets a bump over Lehigh for what that can sometimes do (see Georgetown last year). Cal stays out of the rankings largely because they never race the bulk of the lightweight crews. It would be great to see them at IRAs, but it's a long trip for a club team. Certainly they'll be one of the biggest beneficiaries when the regatta moves West.

Spring Break Races Last Week

Buffalo scrimmaged Dayton and Tulsa in Oak Ridge, TN last week, taking two (eights) from Dayton and splitting two (fours) with Tulsa. Buffalo beat Dayton by 8 and 11 seconds over 1,500 meters. The Tulsa four, which had a pretty good HOCR, beat Buffalo by 4 seconds in the first race while trailing by 8 seconds in the second race. Buffalo had some success in lightweight races last year, and it's good to see them back in the fold this year.