This weekend marks the first time that all three crews will see racing action. The heavyweights and women will remain at Collyer Boathouse, while the lightweights travel to New Jersey to face Princeton and Rutgers.
After a brief rest last weekend, the heavies will be back in full swing tomorrow against the crews of Navy and Syracuse.
The battle between Cornell and Syracuse should be especially fierce as the two central New York teams fight for the rights to the Goes Cup.
“It’s usually an extremely competitive race,” explained heavyweight coach Dan Roock.
Last season, Cornell won the trophy for the first time in several years.
“This is the first time that this team will be defending the trophy,” Roock added.
The women and their opponents, Penn and Rutgers, will be joining the heavyweights down at the Inlet.
The three teams will come together for the Raritan Cup race, which has become an annual tradition.
“It’ll be tough competition. It’s always a pretty tight race,” coach Melanie Onufrieff explained.
All three teams’ varsities have seen mixed success on the water this year, which means that there are no
favorites going into the event.
After a victory at home last weekend, the lightweights will head to Princeton to try to continue their success.
“This weekend everyone is looking to improve on the speed we produced last weekend,” said senior captain Joe Kiely. “Everyone is looking forward to racing and gauging how fast we can go.”
The crew is confident but realizes that past performances will mean little when they are staring down Princeton and Rutgers at the starting line.
“The race is going to be huge,” explained coach Todd Kennett. “We’re going to have to psych ourselves up for a monster.”
Archived article by Meredith Long