2007 Pacific Coast Rowing Championships

The West Coast did some racing last weekend too, as the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships were held on Lake Natoma. In the eight, it was no surprise as the number three ranked boat in the nation, Stanford, easily took care of Loyola Marymount. This may seem like a sideshow to the weekend, but I would suggest that the eastern crews take notice. While we saw Georgetown and Radcliffe close up on Princeton and Wisconsin, Stanford widened its margin over an improving LMU crew by over 10 seconds! Clearly the Cardinal hasn't been sitting still. Need I remind you that Stanford only lost to Wisconsin by 3.1 seconds, while Princeton just lost to them by 2.6 seconds. And Stanford raced the Badgers 2 weeks ago. One could make a good case that Stanford should be ranked second right now. This year's IRA is shaping up to be potentially the best ever (uh, wasn't that just last year?).

In the fours, Stanford also came away with gold, beating second place Humboldt State by 18 seconds. UCSD was third, followed by University of the Pacific and Cal.

Wingnuts and Washers From the Weekend

A presser about Dayton's silver in the JV eight at Dad Vail originally called the boat the "lightweight eight." Perhaps they did a Bucknell after all. This link, though, goes to the "2nd varsity" story.

The Stanford and LMU pressers about PCRCs are here and here.

Sprints stories are up for Wisconsin, Princeton, and Radcliffe.

Wisconsin also won the inaugural Konrad Ulbrich Team Trophy, another feather to put in the Badger cap. Also, a few people mentioned that one of the Wisco rowers was a bit wobbly on the awards dock after the race. Unbelievably (because I watched the medal presentation) I missed it all. You know, rowers always joke about passing out on the last stroke of the race, but few actually pull it off. This woman apparently came pretty close and nothing more can possibly be said about giving your all. What a testament not only to the intensity of the race, but to the spirit and heart of that athlete.

2007 Dad Vail - Fours

It was a perfect day for racing when five boats, the top three from their semis, pulled to the line to challenge Pittsburgh's domination of the light four. To their right, in lane 1, the Panthers saw Brock, with George Mason in lane 2. To the left of the Panthers was Lawrence, then Duquesne, and in lane 6 was CMU. Pittsburgh must have been confident, but couldn't have been certain.

By Strawberry Mansion, Pitt had the lead, but was followed closely by Brock and Lawrence. At 1000 meters, Pitt had a length on the field. Given most Pitt races, this lead cannot have felt comfortable. Then again, a championship race is rarely comfortable.

Coming out of the 1000 Brock was hanging on to second while George Mason took over third, followed by Lawrence, Duquesne, and CMU. At the start of the island Pitt had widened its lead, Brock clung to second, but Lawrence began to move through George Mason for third.

Racing through the island, Pitt, looking unbeatable in its usual position surveying the field, had front row seats to a donnybrook unfolding behind them. By the end of the island Lawrence had taken over second and George Mason was moving into third. Brock and George Mason were in the midst of a tremendous battle as Pittsburgh crossed the line first, just over 7 seconds ahead of an impressive Lawrence crew. By the time the finish line flag moved a third time, 3 seconds later, George Mason had moved 0.3 seconds ahead of Brock for the bronze.

Although now this victory for Pitt seemed inevitable, no victory is. Rarely has a boat so deserved to win a Dad Vail championship. The Panthers took on all comers through fall and spring, defeating every one, leaving little doubt who is the top light four in the nation today. The story would end here, except for the light four exhibition race expected to take place prior to IRAs. At the moment, we've only been told that Duquesne, Wisconsin, and Georgetown have been invited, but it's hard to believe that Pittsburgh will not be included. It would be nice to see MIT and Princeton round out the field, the only two EAWRC fours that haven't faced the Panthers this spring, which would settle the issue once and for all. In the meantime, however, Pitt should bask in some well deserved glory.

Lawrence, the little school in Appleton Wisconsin, turns out to be the home of one of the top light fours in the nation. With few races this spring, and no doubt completely unknown at school, a silver medal at Dad Vail should bring them a bit of notoriety and, who knows, maybe even a few more operating dollars.

George Mason avenged their loss to Duquesne at MACCC and substantially improved their performance since Knecht. As their coach said after they got their medals, "Medaling at Dad Vail is a BIG deal." With a senior stroke, the crew won't be intact next year, but with this kind of performance this boat should get some attention next season.

Each of the crews coming in to get their medals radiated happiness. A Mason father promised his daughter chocolate chip cookies, while at least one Lawrence rower credited her coxie with nailing every call perfectly. Even Pittsburgh, who might have been forgiven if they had expected it, seemed thrilled about winning the gold. Bow seat, by the way, who is no doubt routinely mistaken for a coxswain, must be one of the most efficient athletes in rowing.

Now we just need to see how the IRA race plays out.

[Update: See comments for a nice post from CMU.]

Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championships Results

The MACCC results are finally out, and Duquesne and Virginia Tech won their events. In the eight, Virginia Tech defeated Penn State by 7 seconds. This is a nice win for VT as they head into a fairly wide open Dad Vail, where Penn State will get another shot at them.

Duquesne won the light four by 4 seconds over George Mason, who was followed 2 seconds later by CMU. Susquehanna trailed the field. This is a big win for the Dukes, who lost to George Mason at Knecht. Obviously the boat is getting faster, and it too will have some nice momentum heading into Dad Vail. For CMU and GMU, the loss was enough to cause some worry, but not enough to cause panic. Heading into one of the most significant Dad Vail light four events in memory, all boats know they have serious racing ahead, and no one can take anything for granted.

ECAC and MACRA Results

At the ECAC Metro Buffalo showed why it's ranked 8th as the Bulls defeated UMass by 12 seconds. This is a good result for Buffalo and also suggests that they probably got slighted in the readers' poll. Buffalo flies a bit under the radar because they don't always put out lightweight boats. They often do, however, and those boats are often fast. Buffalo plans to race at Dad Vail and I hope to see the light eight race intact. If they do, they have to be considered one of the favorites. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that a reader has commented that this Buffalo boat has three novice walk-ons in it. If Buffalo goes to IRAs they may be headed for the grand final, a result that should make the program consider putting even more focus on the lights.

At MACRAs, OSU defeated Eastern Michigan by just over a second in the eight. I'm not positive that either of these boats were lightweights, since the race is now just listed as "2V."

In the fours, we have an ominous result. Ominous if you're headed to Dad Vail and your starting point isn't Appleton, WI. Lawrence won the light four event by 19 seconds over Ohio State. Mercyhurst followed OSU by 8 seconds, and then came Chicago and Northwestern. Places 2 through 5 were separated by 28 seconds, not a huge amount, so this wasn't simply a case of a group of boats of wildly differing quality; Lawrence just took charge of this race and put it to bed. Could this Lawrence boat be the stealth boat laying in wait for Pittsburgh? I pray they're headed to Dad Vail and, if they are, I'll talk about them again in the Dad Vail preview. [Update: They are going. See comments for more.]

LMU Wins the Eight and the Four at WIRAs

Well, a lot's been happening! I'm late on this, of course, but we need to give LMU their due. The Lions won both the light eight and light four at WIRAs last weekend. The light eight was decided by a whisker, otherwise known as 0.1 seconds! Here's how LMU saw it:

In the eight, LMU and Cal State Long Beach took an early lead over the field of six, which included Cal Lightweights, Arizona State, UC San Diego, and Chapman University. Long Beach held a four seat lead over the LMU lightweights until about 1600 meters in when LMU began to make a move. Coming into the last 30 strokes, LMU had managed to bring the deficit down to 2 seats, and just before the finish line, edged their bow-ball in front to a win, with a .1 second margin over Long Beach. In third place was UC San Diego, 12 seconds back.

Cal, Chapman, and ASU were fourth, fifth, and sixth.

The four was a bit more comfortable as LMU took an early lead and won by 8 seconds over Long Beach State, who was followed by UCSD, USD, PLU, and Mills.

This is truly lightweight racing at its best. A race like that in the eight is so exhilarating for the winners and so devastating for the losers, that it approaches the perfect athletic experience. It certainly doesn't feel like that to Long Beach State, but to fully know victory, you must taste bitter defeat. The fact is that Long Beach State turned in an incredible performance, of which they should be proud. Back in March, LBS was 3.5 seconds back from LMU. Since then, we've watched the Lions race, and we know that they've raced high level competition and have only become faster. For Long Beach to sneak up on a high quality crew like that is quite an achievement.

As for the Lions, rowing from behind for 3/4 of the race, yet keeping enough confidence to push through a move in the last 400 meters, finally pulling out the victory by a bowball in the last 30 strokes - that's guts. While Stanford, a strong dedicated varsity lightweight program, has been bringing West Coast class to the lightweight league for several years, Loyola Marymount is beginning to epitomize the new face of western lightweight rowing. With Stanford as a target, programs like LMU are consistently rowing fast lightweight boats and creating a true competitive league west of the Rockies. The Pacific Northwest is a bit behind in development, but will ultimately come on faster. While some of the hoary old eastern crews abandon lightweights to focus on the NCAA's one-way pot of gold, open minded western programs are beginning to realize that their minds, and their programs, are their own, to do with as they please. Imagine, you can have fast heavyweights AND fast lightweights! Who would've thunk it (well, other than Princeton, Wisconsin, Radcliffe, ...)?

Stepping off my soap box, let's get back to LMU. The Lions will finish their season with another shot at Stanford at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships on the 12th. I so wish they could go to IRAs, but I understand the cost can be prohibitive. They deserve to be there though (as do some other western crews). There'll be no excuse when the regatta moves west.

More good news for LMU is the fact that lightweight rower Jill Austin has been named to the All WIRA second team. Austin spent some time in heavyweight boats too, but it's great to see a lightweight get some recognition.

Another nugget of news is the fact that LMU will not lose one rower to graduation next year, and has four recruited rowers joining the squad. This is a lightweight program with focus and, if they can just avoid raids by the heavyweights, will begin to see real speed increases. Drawing LMU at Windermere is no longer a rowover.

(Thanks to Coach Conway for the pictures.)

WV Governor's Cup Canceled

A reader comments:

Races were cancelled before the Light 4+ at the WV Governor's cup. Not before the heavy 4+ though and I swear that the water was the worst I have ever rowed in. A 4 flipped and at least 2 4's and an 8 sank before races were called.

Yikes!

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.

Incoming Results

A Reader posts that Wisconsin won in Indianapolis, followed by Stanford, Georgetown, and (although not mentioned) Ohio State.

Earlier today Princeton defeated Radcliffe.

More when we have some times.

More From Last Weekend

Last Saturday Lehigh and Penn State reprised their Murphy Cup battle, with Lehigh once again victorious. The Lehigh light eight won this dual by 13 seconds, increasing their 4 second Murphy Cup margin over the Nittany Lions.

On Sunday, Lehigh's light four went up against rival Lafayette, but with decidedly different results. Lafayette won the race by 26 seconds. This is a nice win for a Lafayette boat that has been racing and seeing steady improvement as a result.

At the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, Marist handily won the light four event over second place Iona, who was followed by Loyola and Manhattan. The MAAC is another conference that awards team points for the lightweight event.

Following up on the pairs race at the Midwest Sprints, a reader noted that there was a cross wind of 17 mph with gusts over 25 mph, causing several non-Wisconsin boats to scratch. Yikes! Speaking of Wisconsin, another reader wondered where the Wisco 2V has been all season. That's a good question. As I understand it, the 2V event has been added to Sprints with the understanding that the Sprints programs will support it, so I assume that Wisconsin will race one there. Wisconsin had 2 eights in the heavyweight 2V event at Midwest Sprints, one of which won, [although a reader notes that was the novice lightweights racing a heavyweight 3V or 4V.]so I doubt that numbers are a problem. I don't know when Wisco will break out the 2V in a lightweight race, but given that the boat is faster than their own heavyweight 2V, I'd say it has some speed. [The Wisconsin 2V remains a mystery.]

[Update: A reader noted that at NCRC four of the seven light four entries failed weigh-ins, leaving a three boat field. PLU won, followed by Willemette and Seattle Pacific.]

Saturday's Racing - The Top Tightens

Number one Princeton's first opportunity to measure itself against a Sprints foe on Saturday, resulted in a 5.5 second victory over Georgetown. What does this tell us? Not much, and a lot. It tells us Princeton is fast, but perhaps not as fast as Wisconsin who beat Georgetown last week by 11 seconds. It tells us Georgetown is fast, but perhaps not as fast as Stanford who came within 3 seconds of the Tigers last week. Then again... Princeton was racing on an unfamiliar course, times were fast making spreads a little tighter, and Georgetown didn't sit still for a week. All told, probably worth a few seconds. But in the end, here's where we are - neither Princeton nor Wisconsin have reason to believe one is faster than the other, and the same can be said about Georgetown and Stanford. Georgetown and Stanford are close to the two leaders and getting faster, making both viable threats to knock them off. Here's the best part - Georgetown, Wisconsin, and Stanford all race each other this weekend in Indianapolis, along with host Ohio State.

The Georgetown freshmen surprised Princeton with an emphatic 11 second win, after losing to the Tigers by 3 seconds at Knecht. Princeton's 2V continued to show the depth of that program with a dominating 27 second victory over Georgetown.

Radcliffe, meanwhile, who has (temporarily) slipped off the edge of the radar screen, posted an 18 second victory over MIT. Radcliffe's 2V was a little over 8 seconds back from MIT. The good news for MIT, though, came in the four, which remained undefeated among lightweights as it beat Radcliffe by a little over 20 seconds. It would really be nice to see MIT and Pitt race down a course somewhere. Radcliffe's freshmen continue to hammer all opponents. A steadily improving Radcliffe crew takes on Princeton this coming weekend in Boston.

At The Big Row, Stanford took care of Cal in both the eight and the four, winning the eight by 11 seconds and the four by 49 seconds. Stanford also put a scare into the Cal heavyweight 3V [earlier in the day], losing by a little over 3 seconds. I'm not sure which race was first. Not a terribly trying day for the Cardinal, but in case you've missed this point earlier, Stanford is fast.

At the A10 championships there were four boat races for both the eight and the four. (It's amazing what awarding team points will do for an event.) In the eight, Dayton recovered from a lackluster, and fatiguing, Knecht to win the title over Duquesne. Although Dayton beat Duquesne earlier in the season, at Knecht the Dukes looked to be the faster crew. Dayton would have none of it, however, as they retain their A10 title by 14 seconds. Duquesne was followed 5 seconds later by a surprising Temple crew that finished 5 seconds ahead of UMass. UMass looked like they could be strong after their MIT dual, but apparently that race was more a sign of an off day by MIT than a really fast UMass boat. Duquesne, who has come out of nowhere this year to really make some noise in the lightweight league, won the four in a championship record time of 7:56.0. Three seconds later came UMass, followed by URI and LaSalle. URI is no doubt racing the remnants of the old lightweight squad when an opportunity presents itself, while LaSalle probably put a boat together in an attempt to earn some team points. I'm beginning to wonder if the A10 is where we'll see the next wave of strong lightweight crews emerge. Of the four eights racing for the championship, three are racing regularly this season, with UMass also racing once outside of the championship. With lightweights scoring team points at this regatta, there is an incentive to develop good lightweight crews. It doesn't happen overnight, but this shows how lightweight team points can help the growth of the league.

At the Midwest Rowing Championships the Wisco lights were everywhere. Highlights include a win in the novice eight over several of their own heavyweight boats as well as Northern Michigan, a 4th place finish in the heavy four behind their own heavies but ahead of Drake, and a win in the heavyweight 2V over their own heavies. In the heavy V8, the Wisco heavies retained the boathouse speed crown along with the boathouse weight crown as the lights came in third behind their boathouse mates, 18 seconds from first place. One other race of note was the 2-. It was populated completely by Wisco lightweights. I love to see college rowers rowing small (2x/- or 1x) boats because it is so incredibly helpful for big boat rowing. As an opposing coach, I would hate to see 10 Wisconsin lightweights racing pairs.

In the light four at SIRAs, Georgia continues to dominate the south, defeating second place Auburn by 14 seconds. Clemson was third, followed by Washington University. Purdue won the novice light four by 38 seconds over the College of Charleston, who was followed closely by Warren Wilson. UT Chattanooga and Auburn were fourth and fifth. Purdue has put out some fast lightweight crews in years past, so maybe this is a sign of a resurgence.

The UConn light four was back on the water, beating two Buffalo boats by 8 and 17 seconds. Later in the day the Buffalo light eight defeated heavyweight 2Vs from Eastern Michigan and UConn.

On Mission Bay Chapman and UCSD raced lightweight eights, with Chapman rowing to a 5 second victory. Maybe it's a Stanford halo effect, but it seems to me we've seen more light eights racing on the West Coast this season.

There is a race report, but no results, for a tri-meet among Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, and Pittsburgh. The Duquesne women were at A10s, but it looks like there was a CMU-Pitt light four race scheduled. [Update: A reader comments that Pitt won.]

Wingnuts and Washers - Links From the Weekend

To round out the weekend's racing, here are some links to school pressers:

Starting in California, Stanford has a release on both Saturday's races and Sunday's. Princeton's own release on Windermere is here. UCF's Saturday release is here and Sunday's release is here. LMU's release is here. It's never good when a release starts off, "Lions Gain Experience..." but I think LMU is an improving team. Their losses were worse last year (except to Stanford who was having a bad year) and they have a victory over a pretty decent Long Beach State boat. I'm not sure what LMU's plans are, but they've been racing a light eight pretty regularly over the last few years, are getting faster, and can become another consistent, high quality lightweight program on the West Coast to complement Stanford and Cal. By the same token, as a young crew that watched its 2006 veterans get sucked into the heavyweight squad, UCF should be pleased with their victory over LMU.

Moving to the Knecht Cup, Wisconsin's release is here (I would've sworn it said something a bit different earlier in the day), and Radcliffe's is here, with a much more interesting Crimson article here. The article points out something I missed - Radcliffe's V8 raced in the heavyweight event as well as the lightweight event. With the regatta compressed into one day, although I don't recall the timing of the races, this had to affect the Black and White's performance. The article also reveals that Radcliffe is doing a lot of experimenting, both with lineups as well as with training techniques. This all makes me think that Radcliffe has another card to play, with the deal likely coming on April 28th. Dayton's Knecht presser is here, and reveals that several members of the light eight also raced in the heavyweight 2V race just before the light eight heat.

Finally, I come back to the MIT-UMass race. From readers' comments it sounds like the race took place under some terrible conditions, but that the results are correct. As a result, we need to get the UMass lights into the rankings. MIT can't have been happy with their race, but they'll get a chance for redemption, even if it's not against UMass. Speaking of which, hopefully we'll see that UMass boat race next week at A10s and I hope Coach Dietz is thinking about IRAs.

Other Races This Weekend

MIT and UMass squared off in Boston with UMass taking a 7 second victory over the MIT novice eight. MIT's V8 is listed 2 seconds later followed by the MIT novice B boat. I'm not sure what to make of these results, not because I doubt UMass's speed, but because I would question MIT's novices going faster than the varsity. Maybe someone can tell us more?

The Cal lights raced heavyweights at the Santa Clara Invite on Saturday, finishing fourth behind St. Mary's, Santa Clara, and Sonoma State.

In Newport Beach, Chapman and Long Beach State raced light eights, with LBS winning by just over 7 seconds.

PLU and Puget Sound raced, but no events showed lightweight boats.

In Ohio, OSU's Ohio Cup was canceled as a result of permitting issues.

Knecht Cup Eights - They're Baaaack

There was no shortage of questions coming into the eights event at the Knecht Cup - could Georgetown maintain its slight 1 second edge over Radcliffe, how fast would Wisconsin be in its first race of the year, and could any other eights stay up with the three Sprints schools?

Heat 1 looked like a rowover for Wisconsin, and so it proved to be as the Badgers finished 29 seconds ahead of the Radcliffe 2V, with Buffalo finishing another 4 seconds back. Needless to say, Wisconsin was in control from the start.

Heat 2 quickly became a two boat race between Radcliffe and Georgetown. Radcliffe pulled away in the second half as the Hoyas, clearly executing a race plan, cruised to the finish rowing low and long. A moderately surprising Duquesne boat finished third to knock Lehigh out of the grand final.

By the time of the late day final, it was clear that Wisconsin was the crew to beat, and that Georgetown and Radcliffe had bigger worries than who was the fastest between them. Ultimately, the final played out like one more year tacked on to Groundhog Day, with the Radcliffe and Georgetown boats filled with Phil Connerses, praying to wake up from their nightmare. By the 1000 meter mark Wisconsin was ahead to stay, winning the event by 11 seconds. Georgetown and Radcliffe had a battle going for a while, until the Hoyas pulled away to take second, 12 seconds ahead of the Black and White. The Radcliffe 2V took fourth, followed by Buffalo and Duquesne.

Wisconsin hasn't actually won Knecht since 2002, reflecting what has been traditionally a late starting crew. At this point, I would normally talk about how little time Wisconsin has on the water this early in the season, and it holds true for this year as well. Because of the squirrelly weather, though, I'm not sure if it's been much less than the other northern crews. Has Wisconsin become an early starting crew, or has the water time simply evened out? Or, even more frightening, are the Badgers off to their usual slow start with the usual amount of speed yet to be gained?

The Georgetown-Radcliffe duel also proved to be anticlimactic, as the Hoyas opened up space between themselves and the Black and White. Radcliffe continues to have a bumpy season, reflective of the rebuilding effort going on in Cambridge.

Turning to the freshmen, the Radcliffe eight continued to dominate, winning the event by 12 seconds over Princeton, which was 3 seconds ahead of Wisconsin [and] Georgetown[, who crossed the line in a virtual dead heat. (The official results incorrectly reported Georgetown's time.)] and Philadelphia rounded out the field. Princeton and Wisconsin also made it to the grand final of the heavy frosh eight event, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Wisconsin's performance at Knecht was impressive, if not entirely unexpected. Things were a bit more interesting on the West Coast however, and we may need to rethink the rankings...

Knecht Cup Fours - Surprising Boats, Except One

"It's gonna be a close one." This was the opinion of one UConn rower as she and her boatmates looked at the results of the women's light four heats at the weather compressed Knecht Cup. The three heat winners, Georgetown, UConn, and Pitt, were all within 0.3 seconds of each other. Two of the Pitt crew were at the results board at the same time and, after hearing the remark, as they walked away, one gave the other a look that could only have been interpreted as, "Yikes!" In retrospect, I wonder if it didn't have another meaning.

For spectators, the race begins around the 1k mark, because that's the first time you can really make out who has a lead (and then only if you squint really hard). At the halfway mark in heat 1, Georgetown was out in front of Duquesne and Buffalo, rowing relatively smoothly at a higher rate than the other boats. On this breezy day, the Hoyas weren't throwing up much spray. By the 500, Georgetown had the race won, and Buffalo was vainly trying to stay in contact with Duquesne. Maintaining it's rate through the finish, Georgetown won by 11 seconds over Duquesne, which secured its grand final spot by 15 seconds over Buffalo.

In heat 2, UConn, George Mason, and Radcliffe all looked to be within striking distance of each other at the 1k mark. By the time they reached the 500, the race had become a UConn, George Mason battle. Interesting, because there were four different strokes going on in the GM boat, but somehow they were in the thick of it. UConn pulled ahead in the last 250 with more of a power sprint than a rating sprint, winning by 6 seconds over George Mason, who was 19 seconds ahead of Radcliffe.

In heat 3, the heat predicted to be the fastest, Susquehanna came off the back early, leaving Carnegie Mellon, Wisconsin, and Pitt fighting to reach the 1000 first. By the 1k it was a CMU, Pitt race, but it was soon clear that Pitt was in control. Pitt had no need of a sprint as the Panthers won by 21 seconds, with second place CMU 10 seconds ahead of Wisconsin A.

All of which brings us to the "It's gonna be close" final. Unfortunately for me, life intruded at this point like a roommate who changes the channel during a Jack Bauer cliffhanger, and I was unable to see the race. I can only imagine Pitt, UConn, and Georgetown stealing glances at each other as they locked onto the stakeboats. Finding their point as they wonder if they need to win this race with the start or if they'll have a second go at it in the body. Tensing as the starter brings them to attention for their biggest race yet. Then somehow, over the next 2000 meters, a funny thing happened - it wasn't a "close one." I imagine that Georgetown and UConn were in it at the 1000, but then had to succumb to a superior force. I'm told that a sign of intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in one's mind at the same time. Knowing that rowers are the most intelligent of athletes, the Pitt crew was no doubt amazed that they were taking this race in dominating fashion, while at the same time understanding that they were simply witnessing the inevitable occurring. Pitt beat second place Georgetown by a lucky 13 seconds, while UConn was another 4 seconds back. This victory solidifies Pitt's position as the class of the national light four field, and sets up Dad Vail as a potential national championship race for fours. It goes without saying that Pittsburgh should be extremely proud of this race, but still wondering who might show up at Dad Vail. Is there a fast Nova Southeastern boat out there? What about Georgia, or even Lawrence? Pitt, or should they somehow lose at Dad Vail, the Dad Vail winner, deserves a shot at the remaining Sprints fours - MIT comes to mind. If we're lucky, someday we'll have fours at IRAs.

So what happened to Wisconsin and Radcliffe? Clearly, one of the Wisconsin boats was a novice four. The other four rowed better, but not quickly, so it's not clear who was in that boat. Wisconsin only had one eight, so their 2V athletes were available, which doesn't tell us much about what the Badgers were up to. Radcliffe raced a second eight, leaving few rowers available for the four, with at least one member of the crew a walk-on freshman. Despite this, we take absolutely nothing away from Pitt's victory. Whether a result of different priorities, or because they're on the wrong side of the Line of Hope, Pitt's competition is now forced to recognize them as the top four in the country. With a 2V race at Sprints this year, the EAWRC programs may be concentrating more than usual on two eights, which makes an IRA fours event all the more desirable. If Pitt wins Dad Vail, the Panthers will deserve a shot.

As for that Radcliffe walk-on, her parents, who flew out from Chicago, filled the role of freshman walk-on Mom and Dad perfectly. As Dad fretted that her boat was behind, Mom talked about how what mattered was how proud she was that her daughter was part of this odd sport. Trust me, in a few years Mom will either rip the guts out of anyone who suggests her daughter's boat might not win, or she'll be unable to watch any race with a family member involved. Dad will believe himself a far superior coach to Cecil Tucker.

More From the Weekend

Lehigh's lightweights got a race in on Saturday as their heavyweights raced Drexel in Philadelphia. The lights jumped into the heavyweight V8 race, finishing 33 seconds back from their heavies and 29 seconds back from Drexel's heavies.

On Friday, Villanova raced UConn in Connecticut in a dual that included a light four race. UConn won by 34 seconds.

At the John Hunter Regatta in Oak Ridge, Georgia won the light four, although an Emory boat jumped in to break up a Georgia one-two finish. Georgia's A boat won by 16 seconds over Emory, followed by Georgia B, Auburn, Clemson, and Chattanooga. As the UGA light fours continue to do well, it's worth remembering the Lawrence four that beat both boats at the Clemson Sprints at the end of March. As we look around the country at these fours races, names begin to be repeated in the victory column and by the time Dad Vails comes around we might have a pretty good idea of who the favorites will be.

Georgia also won the light eight at John Hunter, beating Virginia Tech by over six seconds and Auburn by over 34.

Wisconsin's scheduled race in Indiana was canceled due to poor weather conditions.

Results and stories are now out on the Princeton, UCF, MIT races yesterday. UCF story here, and Princeton story here.

One of the more difficult things to do in lightweight women's rowing is to try to rank fours. So many light fours races are added on to heavy duals, all over the country, that it's difficult to track them all. On top of that, schools don't always race their top fours, but there is no way of knowing. Nonetheless, we'll try here to keep up an in-season ranking, a ranking which will get it's first changes as a result of this week's racing. With MIT beating a Princeton four, the Engineers move into second, and with Lawrence's victory over Georgia in March, they move onto the list at ninth. [See comments for more on UGA's light fours. It sounds like they'll be one of the top contenders at Dad Vails.] In another week or two, I'll start to prune the ranking of those fours that haven't raced in the spring. This weekend's Knecht Cup will be an important race for all of the non-EAWRC schools, because it will really be their only chance to race the Sprints fours. (We'll talk more about that in the Knecht preview.) The Knecht schedule isn't out yet, but I'm hoping for full fields all the way around.

Saturday Races

Although UCF may have suspected psychological warfare, the Golden Knights arrived in Princeton earlier in the week to a swirling snow squall. For some, it was their first glimpse of the white stuff. Unfortunately for both UCF and MIT the reception never really got warmer.

Although the results aren't yet posted, a reader wrote in to say that Princeton won the V8 race by several lengths open, followed by UCF in second, a length ahead of Princeton's 2V in third, which was a length ahead of MIT. Princeton's freshmen beat two MIT frosh boats (great situation for the Engineers to have two frosh boats), despite catching a boat stopping crab during the race. The first heat of the afternoon fours race was taken by Princeton while the second, and faster, heat was won by MIT with Princeton second and UCF third.

This was a race that had a little bit for everyone. Princeton was strong and maintained it's status as favorite. A young UCF crew beat MIT and jumps them in the rankings. MIT showed that they can still put together a formidable four, while the eight is likely suffering from that most curable of problems - early season conditioning. Princeton's 2V, meanwhile, shows that if it were a separate school, it would deserve a ranking easily in the top ten.

In Rhode Island, Radcliffe raced in the 2v event against Bucknell, URI, and BC, finishing fourth. A difficult two weekends for the Black and White as after losing to Georgetown last week, the 1V finishes 20 seconds behind a Bucknell 2V that only beat Princeton's lightweight 2V by a little more than 3 seconds. The Radcliffe frosh continued their dominating ways as they defeated URI and BC heavy freshmen. Bucknell, in what looked like a potential IRA boat, put a light eight on the water for the 3V race, which included Radcliffe's 2V. Bucknell beat the Black and White by 30 seconds (and the URI 3V by 15). It would be nice to see a Bucknell lightweight eight race someone in the top ten so we can see their speed and get them ranked.

With such a dominating freshman boat and a varsity that is struggling a bit, it wouldn't be surprising to see a freshman or two move up to the varsity. It would be unfortunate for that freshman crew, but it's all about the V8.

NCRC and URAC

At the NCRC Invitational last Saturday, Long Beach State won the light four by 16 seconds over UCSD and by 18 over the University of Puget Sound. The UCSD four previously beat a heavy four from UC Irvine (as well as its own heavy four), so Long Beach State must be pretty fast.

At the University Rowing Association Championships in Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon won the light four/JV four race. CMU beat Wash U., Rochester, Wash U. lights, and Case Western, finishing 19 seconds ahead of second place. A nice win for CMU as they try to gain ground on Pittsburgh.

Crew Classic

At the Crew Classic in San Diego, Stanford easily (36 seconds) outdistanced the competition, Chapman and Arizona State. While I missed the final, I saw the preliminary (raced for lane placement), which had a similar result. Stanford easily controlled the race, with open water by the 1000. Stanford looked impressive - their catches were clean, crisp, and together, length looked good, and the bodies were together. Chapman and Arizona State are new names on the lightweight circuit, and had nice races with each other. Time will tell if these crews will be consistent lightweight racers or if they just put out boats of opportunity, but it would always be nice to see them stick around.

It's unfortunate, and I'm sure Stanford shares this opinion too, that LMU and Cal had to scratch from this event. I think both of these crews are getting faster and could have given Stanford a good race. No matter though, because we'll see all three in a few weeks at Windermere.

It's On!

Doing its best imitation of Major League Baseball, the spring season seems to arrive earlier and earlier every year. This year we're underway as of February 24th. The Stetson Sprints were held Saturday in DeLand, Florida, the result of a heroic effort by Stetson University to stage the races, much less to actually race in them. The Sprints also saw the first lightweight race of the spring season as the University of Florida defeated Embry Riddle by 22 seconds in the light four event.