More on UCF Last Weekend

A reader makes a good point, and one which I completely missed, when (s)he comments that in beating the Villanova heavies at the Rollins Invitational, UCF beat a crew that beat Radcliffe, Georgetown, and MIT at the Princeton Chase. Now, before I hear all of the reasons why this doesn't matter, I'll give you a few myself. UCF probably has had a lot more water time than Villanova, since I assume Villanova is in Florida on its spring break trip. Villanova is also probably some time away from determining their optimal lineup. Radcliffe has done poorly the last couple of years at the Chase, making that race a poor indicator of their spring speed. I'm sure you can all think of another reason or two as well.

Despite all of the caveats, we're still left with the inescapable fact that UCF beat the same team that beat Radcliffe, Georgetown, and MIT in the fall. It may prove nothing, or it may be a harbinger of things to come. Either way, Windermere is looking like a lot more fun.

Princeton Chase Results

Reports from the Princeton Chase today described an extremely windy course with a dominant headwind for the last third that caused steering problems and collisions throughout the day. The fours were canceled along with the small boats.

It was a big day for Princeton as the Tigers finished 1 - 2 in the lightweight competition. The first Princeton boat finished over a minute ahead of third place Radcliffe while the second Princeton boat was 25 seconds ahead. Radcliffe, in turn, was 4 seconds ahead of Georgetown which was 23 seconds ahead of MIT. A third Princeton boat rounded out the lightweight field. Princeton must have some talent this year as it appears that the only boat capable of gaining on Princeton is, well, Princeton. The Princeton B boat was 49 seconds back from the A boat at the Head of the Potomac and has now moved to within 37 seconds. When these two crews mix and match in the spring the result has the potential to be extremely fast. To add a little more perspective, the Tiger A boat beat the Cornell, GW, BC, and Rutgers A heavyweights, while the Princeton B boat beat the Trinity, Villanova, and MIT A heavyweight boats. The top lightweight boat was a bit further back in the field this year than last, but given the wind we would expect that.

Another winner appears to be Georgetown. They closed the gap substantially on Radcliffe since Boston while moving ahead of MIT.

Although there is some racing left, the Chase closes the door on the fall races with the potential to tell us anything about the relative speed of lightweight crews. At this point we should look back at last year's Chase, keeping in mind the final spring results. Princeton also won last year (Wisconsin did not compete in either 2005 or 2006) and also beat Radcliffe by about a minute (52 seconds). Georgetown was second last year, 9 seconds ahead of Radcliffe. (Recently, Radcliffe seems to have had some problems with this race.) Princeton beat quite a few heavyweight A boats last year as well (although this year there was a lightweight killer wind).

So what does all of this tell us? I think it mostly tells us who to measure spring progress against. This spring that initial measuring stick will pretty clearly be Princeton. On the other hand, last spring the measuring stick was Wisconsin, yet we know that Wisconsin typically starts slow and they stayed true to form as Radcliffe and Princeton beat the Badgers at Knecht. Mostly what it tells us is that the fall and spring seasons are very different. Crews that excel rowing 5000 meters at a controlled 30 spm, can turn into screaming banshees, unable to control slides or match catches, in the heat of a sprint race while rowing a 36 or 38. Head races are rowed at that Goldilocks pace in which the boat is going fast enough to set it and keep the oars off the water, but not so high and hard that you think you can't go on after the first 30 strokes. Nonetheless, before you can row well high and hard, you have to row Goldilocks well.

And Furthermore...

The biggest eight days of the fall rowing season have just concluded, yielding some answers (yes, Wisconsin is fast again), but leaving more questions (what happened to Radcliffe at the Chase?). The lightweight eight event at the Head of the Charles did what it could to sort out the field, leaving things in the fall looking much as they did last spring. The Princeton Chase followed to make sure that no one just got lucky in Boston.

At first glance, it looks like Radcliffe may have gotten lucky a week ago. Radcliffe finished about ten seconds behind Princeton in Boston, but about 50 seconds behind the Tigers and nine seconds behind Georgetown at the Chase. I doubt it was good luck in Boston though, more like bad luck (or a different crew) in Princeton. Radcliffe was rowing in traffic as they went under the bridge, so they could have easily gotten tangled up somewhere along the course. In any case, don'’t count on a slow Radcliffe in the spring. Georgetown had a credible row at the Chase and with a new coach on board will be raring to go come spring.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin raced at the Head of the Iowa, finishing 6th in the Open 8 event and finishing in the top ten of several other heavyweight events. It's never clear what these kind of results mean for lightweights, but we already know Wisconsin is fast.

Stanford, meanwhile, has chosen to stay on the west coast this fall, leaving the extent of their speed to the imagination. Racing in the Head of the American last weekend, they finished 14th out of 17 in the Open 8 event. Again, it's hard to know just what that means.

One last word about the Princeton Chase - this is one of the finest regattas of the fall, and certainly the finest for collegiate rowing. Some of the best collegiate programs in the nation show up to race over a beautiful course without the distraction of juniors, masters, or clubs. It's just school vs. school with most rowers racing twice and seniors often getting a last chance to row together as a class. It really doesn't get much better than this unless, of course, the lightweight field could deepen enough to warrant a separate event for the women. Meanwhile, in two weeks the freshmen do it - get ready for the Belly!