Duals (and More) This Weekend

Radcliffe heads to Rhode Island on Saturday to meet Bucknell, Boston College, and URI. BC doesn't race lightweights and it appears URI has tossed in the towel, so I don't expect either of those teams to offer lightweight competition for Radcliffe. The information clampdown continues at Bucknell so we'll wait with bated breath to see if the Bison race a light eight or a heavy eight. Although the State Secret is still secure, I expect we'll see a heavy eight and, at this point, this is what I hope to see since a Radcliffe-Bucknell heavies race will give us a means to compare the Black and White with Princeton. Like Princeton's race last week, this will be a bit of a gimme for Radcliffe since they'll probably be racing all heavyweight boats. There will be some added pressure however, to come within Princeton's 10 seconds of the heavies. Conditions can make such a comparison wildly inaccurate, but why let that stop us?

Princeton, meanwhile, is back on the water as UCF and MIT come to visit. This is scheduled to be an all day affair with eights in the morning and fours in the afternoon, but it's not clear if that will happen and who will be in the fours. With UCF's 2006 IRA boat raided by the heavyweights (as we've discussed previously), and MIT only recently moving back onto the national stage in eights, expectations will be high for the Tigers. A stumble here would not be the way to start the lightweight season. Despite the loss of UCF lightweights, I don't exactly think the Golden Knights will be sending scrubs up north to face MIT and Princeton. The boat hasn't been tested yet against top notch lightweight competition, but that doesn't mean it's slow, only unknown. A good showing here sets the stage for the remainder of the season, which includes a Princeton re-match at Windermere. MIT has to be energized to start the season after a good fall campaign. Let's remember that this is a crew that beat Georgetown at the Head of the Charles. Clearly the Engineers have potential and despite being a bit rusty, they'll no doubt be feeling their oats on Lake Carnegie.

Two other duals to note - Lehigh races Drexel (which should be a heavyweight affair) and Cal races Santa Clara. Cal's race with Santa Clara should provide the Bears with a nice gauge of the progress they might be making against Stanford. Well, actually, all we know is that Stanford beat Santa Clara. Since they were timed scrimmage pieces, spreads were not reported.

To go back to UCF for a minute, a reader commented a few weeks ago that the the UCF lightweights that were taken by the heavyweight squad "are not being allowed to return for IRA's." If true, none of UCF's IRA crew will be rowing lightweight this year. As far as I know, the NCAA would allow these rowers to return unless the heavies went to the NCAA championship. Perhaps this is the coach's decision? Or, perhaps the heavies are so certain of a NCAA invite that they just assume the lights can't return. After coming close to an IRA medal last year, it's got to be difficult to spend a season toiling in the heavyweight 2V (a few are no doubt in the 1V) simply so the team can win the consolation prize at regattas (also known as the team championship). Once again we can thank the NCAA for creating the absurdity that causes 2V and 3V four events to be favored over a 1V lightweight event.

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.

2007 Season Preview - Lehigh University

It's cold outside (finally) but the erg rooms are heating up and it's time for Fight in the Dog's 2007 season preview. I preview the coming season for each of last year's top ten V8s, starting with #10 and finishing with #1. If I believe a program won't be boating a light eight, I'll hurl curses in their general direction and fill in the slot with the next crew down the list. I'm also starting a lightweight race calendar which I'll fill in as I do the previews. So far Lehigh's schedule is in. You can find it here.

Last year we began with #10 Lehigh University and this year we begin with #10. . . Lehigh. If you're a Lehigh rower, perhaps you're a bit disappointed not to have improved on the prior season, but in a year that saw the entire lightweight field move up a notch in competitiveness, holding your own isn't such a bad result.

Lehigh's season starts on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, a course nearly as familiar to the Mountain Hawks as their home water. Facing Delaware, St. Joseph's, and LaSalle on March 19th, the lightweights should get an opportunity to race against lightweights from St. Joe's. St. Joe's usually has lightweights early in the season, dropping them later if they don't appear to be fast. Delaware and LaSalle may also boat lightweights. Lehigh heads back to Philadelphia the next weekend for another race against LaSalle on Saturday and against Villanova on Sunday. Villanova also usually boats lightweights early. March ends with the Murphy Cup on the 24th, which is a race in which Coach Savell expects to race lightweights. Last year Lehigh raced a light four, although a light eight may have been entered in a heavyweight event.

April kicks off with the San Diego Crew Classic (what a great trip!) and although there is a light eight event, at the moment Lehigh's lightweights are not expected to race there. The Crew Classic is followed by a dual with Drexel back in Philadelphia the next weekend, and the Knecht Cup in Camden the following weekend. Knecht will be a key test for the Mountain Hawks since, despite Windermere occurring on the same day, they'll be able to line up against some of the best programs in the nation. Following Knecht is the rivalry race with Lafayette, with Army crashing the party. Lafayette was racing some lightweights in the fall, so they may race here. The month ends with the Patriot League Championships in Worcester. Coach Savell expects to race a light boat at Patriots, although there wasn't a light event last year. Either there is this year or the lightweights will race as heavyweights.

The championship month of May will see Lehigh racing lightweights at Dad Vail on the 11th and then at IRAs at the end of the month. We'll have to see how Dad Vail shakes out vs. ECACs. Maybe now that ECAC canceled the lightweight events last year, everyone will just go to Dad Vail and be done with it.

The Knecht Cup should be the first big test for Lehigh. They haven't raced here for several years but they plan to this year and that will be important to get a feel for where they stand. Of course, a Dad Vail championship should be a key goal, one that is doable and which would provide some momentum heading into IRAs. Lehigh lost three rowers from last year's IRA boat so, while not a complete reconstruction, there will still be some work to be done to be at least as competitive as last year.

Wisconsin Enjoys River Challenge

Enjoy is a funny word to use for a head race, but I'm pretty sure it's appropriate for this race. Wisconsin faced no lightweight rivals and, other than the Wisconsin heavyweights, faced only heavyweight club programs. The lightweights finished fourth (behind three Wisco heavy boats) and tenth in the fours and fourth (behind two Wisco heavies and a Purdue heavy boat) and fifth in the eights. No pressure, no hype - a nice way to open the season.

Lehigh didn't race in Milwaukee and has revised their schedule since my last post. Looks like they'll get in six races this fall, including all of the Philadelphia regattas. Next week for Lehigh is a race against Delaware, which will probably only boat heavyweight crews.

Early Start for Wisconsin

I've often talked about Wisconsin's weather-forced late start in the spring, but I haven't noted that they get an early start in the fall. Well, they're off! This weekend Wisconsin races at the Milwaukee River Challenge. It's an odd race - two 2.2 mile pieces ten minutes apart - but most importantly, it's a race. Most crews aren't racing until October, and then usually get in about three races. If you count Class Day, Wisconsin races five times in the fall. The queen of fall racing, though, is fellow Milwaukee River Challenge competitor, Lehigh. Lehigh races nine times in the fall! I don't know if the lightweights race every time, but the opportunity is there.

UCF Continues Its Strong Start

UCF easily handled Villanova yesterday at the Rollins Invitational, beating the Wildcats by 32 seconds. After UCF lost a varsity 4 race to Villanova last weekend, there was a possibility that this race might be close. [Update: Scratch that possibility. A reader comments that this was Villanova's heavy 4+.]

St. Joseph's and Lehigh tangled yesterday as well, with St. Joe's coming out on top by about 3 seconds. Lehigh ended up in the top ten last year so this shows me that St. Joe's will make some noise this year. Lehigh was close enough to make a late season race between these two interesting. Meanwhile, as two Philadelphia schools, hopefully St. Joe's and Villanova will meet up so we can get a read on the speed of St. Joe's versus UCF.

At the Sacramento State Invitational Stanford's lights went up against the heavyweight 2Vs of Sacramento State, St. Mary's, and Humboldt State, finishing second, 13 seconds behind Sacramento State. Cal's lightweights (varsity?) raced in a 5 boat heavyweight novice eight race finishing 5th, 30 seconds behind the winner, Sacramento State. I don't know how good the heavyweight boats in these races are so it's hard to judge what it means for the lightweights. It's good to race, though, and nice to beat heavies, even 2Vs.

The Southeastern Regional Collegiate Sprints also took place yesterday but the results aren't posted yet. There may have been some lightweight racing there, but we'll have to wait and see.

2006 Season Preview - Lehigh

It's almost February, some crews have already gone south for water time, others will be headed there in the coming days and weeks. In about eight weeks the season will be in full swing. Plenty of erg days lay ahead, but soon we'll be slipping and sliding on icy docks as we carry our boats to the water. (If you row in the south, well, please gloat silently.) With all this in mind, it's a good time to look ahead at the coming season. Most schools have published their spring schedules, so I'll take a look at what will be some highlights. I'll go through school by school, starting with last year's number 10 V8 and ending with last year's number 1. Doing one or two teams each week brings us to the season. By the way, since I have the only season ending ranking, by default my ranking is the OFFICIAL national ranking.

This week we start with Lehigh. It can be problematic to do a preview for some of these programs because we can't even be sure they will race a lightweight boat, much less know which races on their schedule will include a lightweight race. In Lehigh's case, they have raced lightweight boats in 2004 and 2005, so I'll assume they will continue, and press on.

Lehigh begins the season on the Schuylkill in Philadelphia against Delaware and St. Joe's. Delaware doesn't race lightweights but St. Joe's often does, so there may be a light eight or four race that day. St. Joe's has the potential to make some noise in the lightweight ranks so if they race a light eight this year, this will be a good test for both. The next week is Villanova in Philly. Villanova often puts out lightweight boats so there may be another opportunity to race. Lehigh may just as well camp out along the Schuylkill because the following week is the Murphy Cup. The Murphy Cup usually has a good field of light fours.

April Fool's Day brings the rivalry race against Lafayette. In 2004 a light eight was contested while in 2005 only a light four was raced. Whatever is raced this year, Lehigh needs to win it if they hope to play any national role.

The following week is the Knecht Cup in Camden. The Knecht Cup has become one of the premier lightweight women's events, but Lehigh hasn't raced it recently. If they have a serious light boat, this is chance to find out what it's made of. The next race with lightweight possibilities is a dual with Bucknell. Bucknell wasn't a factor last year, but they are getting serious about lightweights so maybe they'll have a varsity boat to pit against Lehigh. If so, this will be a key race for Lehigh. The Patriot League Championship follows. This may or may not have a lightweight race so it probably won't be a highlight. Next come Dad Vails and IRAs to end the season.

Early races are just that - early races. They are important for training, less important for results. The Knecht Cup will be big, but still a bit early. The Bucknell race is late enough, however, that if both crews are racing lightweight eights, this will be a key match-up and can provide some good momentum entering the championship season. Of course, if Lehigh doesn't actually race a lightweight eight this year - NEVER MIND! [Update: Lehigh has confirmed that they will be racing lightweights this spring.]

Next up is the University of Central Florida.