Crew Sends 34-Boat Armada to Princeton Chase

The rowing teams hit the water in full force this weekend, sending 34 boats to the Princeton Chase on Sunday. The Red put up an overall solid performance at the three-mile race on Lake Carnegie in New Jersey –– recording 15 top-10 results, including five finishes of sixth or better.

Both men’s rowing teams were well-represented at the race, yet it was the men’s heavyweight team that had arguably the best showing at the regatta. The heavyweight team sent 10 boats to New Jersey and placed half of them in the top-10, including two in the top-5.

In the men’s varsity eight event, the Red’s ‘A’ boat finished in fifth place with a time of 13:27.063, just nine seconds off Princeton’s winning time of 13:18.686. Cornell’s ‘B’ boat finished 11th in the race, beating many teams’ ‘A’ boats, including those from Ivy rivals Dartmouth and Penn.

The heavyweight team found similar success in the varsity four event, recording another fifth- place finish with a time of 15:14.067. Unlike in the eights event, however, it was the Red’s ‘B’ boat that finished in the top-5 in the fours. The ‘A’ boat followed soon after, though, finishing in eighth at 15:28.533.

In their first race of the season, the heavyweight freshmen boats were equally as impressive as their varsity counterparts. For many of the upperclassmen, this weekend’s Princeton Chase was like any other race. But for the members of the Class of 2013, it was their first opportunity to compete at the collegiate level. The Red’s two freshmen boats finished just two seconds apart, with the ‘B’ boat placing eighth and the ‘A’ boat placing ninth in the freshmen eight event.

The lightweight team sent 12 boats to the regatta, participating in four separate events. [8]All in uniform: The men’s heavyweight teams had arguably the best showing in Princeton, with two top-5 finishes.

Perhaps the most impressive performance by any lightweight crew came from the ‘C’ boat in the varsity eight. The boat finished 11th overall, beating the ‘A’ boats for both Dartmouth and Penn and the ‘B’ boats for Harvard, Princeton and Navy, and falling just short of the Red’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ boats (8th and 11th overall). The pair of William Brumstead and Matthew Rung also put forth a solid effort in the small boats event, finishing in seventh and missing a top-5 finish by just three seconds.

Despite these performances, however, the overall feeling amongst the lightweight team was one of dissatisfaction at the end of the day.

“I walked away from this past weekend very disappointed,” said sophomore lightweight rower Michael Szymoniak. “The accomplishments this team has achieved in the past five years makes these results somewhat unacceptable. Looking up and down our roster, I know we are faster than the results indicate and come spring we will show that.”

Szymoniak participated in both the varsity eight and four –– two races in which the Red’s best finishes were 8th and 12th, respectively.

Although the results weren’t exactly what the team had been hoping for, lightweight head coach Chris Kerber was able to find some positives in the Red’s performance.

“I can’t say that I am blown away with the results, or even satisfied,” Kerber said. “But I am encouraged. We had two fast pairs in the field and the guys collectively showed we have solid program speed.”

Kerber suggested that the results might have been more favorable had he used different combinations of rowers in each boat.

“I will be the first to admit that I was not sure that all of the top eight athletes were in the ‘A’ boat,” he said. “Many decisions were made based on combinations of athletes that seemed to ‘swing’ or move well together.”

Szymoniak feels that once the correct combinations are determined, the lightweight team will begin to see better results.

“We found out this weekend that we have a solid base of core team speed,” he said. “We know we have a lot of talent and 24 capable athletes. Now it is just a matter of finding the right combinations that will lead to a fast varsity … in the spring.”

The women’s team sent 12 boats to the race on Sunday to compete in four separate events. The Red’s ‘A’ boat finished a team-best 16th in the varsity eight, followed by finishes of 36th and 45th by the ‘B’ and ‘C’ boats, respectively. The team fared slightly better in the varsity four event, placing 6th, 20th, 25th and 27th.

Nevertheless, the performance by the women’s varsity squad wasn’t quite what head coach Hilary Gehman had in mind heading into the race.

“The varsity had some disappointing results,” Gehman said.

The coach didn’t think the results were a product of a lack of speed or talent, however, and remained optimistic about her team’s prospects in the future.

“I don’t think [the Princeton Chase] was particularly telling of the speed that this team has,” she said. “I don’t think any of the boats really reached their racing potential. But, you can’t change the results; it is what it is.”

The results weren’t entirely disappointing for the women’s team, though, as the pair of Cecilia Madsen and Lauren Fisher in the small boats event and the ‘A’ and ‘B’ boats in the women’s novice eight event posted stellar finishes.

Gehman suggested that the performance by Eisser and Psiaki might have been the highlight of the weekend. The small boat pair finished first (26th overall) amongst all women’s pairs in the event with a time of 18:05.037. The grouping of Harlon Trevithick and Caroline Post was close behind, finishing third among all women’s pairs with a time of 18:20.587.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign that the women’s team could take away from the weekend was the performance by the two freshmen boats in the novice eight. The freshmen ‘A’ and ‘B’ boats finished fourth and eighth, respectively, in the novice race.

“I think the freshmen did really well,” Gehman said. “They got a fourth and eighth-place finish, which is pretty good for their first race of the year.”

Correction: The original version of this article identified the wrong rowers as part of the winning women's crew. In fact, Cecilia Madsen and Lauren Fisher, not Tracy Eisser and Ann Psiaki, placed 26th overall, and first among women's crews. The Sun regrets the error.