In one of their final races before the fall season comes to a close, the Cornell crews had a strong showing at the Princeton Chase in Princeton, N.J., this past weekend.
The Cornell heavyweights saw its “A” varsity eight boat finish eighth in a field of 38 with a time of 13:43.21, crossing the line just ahead of the Navy crew.
“I was pleased. We moved up on the field considerably since the Head of the Charles,” said men’s heavyweight head coach Dan Roock.
First-place finisher Princeton hit the line close to 24 seconds ahead of runner-up Yale. The Red’s heavyweight “B” varsity eight finished with a time of 14:04.26 and the “C” boat crossed the line at 14:37.34.
“I was pleased with the ‘B’ boat, we were in contact with the field,” Roock said.
Junior Tyler Davis, a rower on the men’s “A” heavyweight eight-man boat, agreed with Roock that the Cornell crew had improved since its last competition.
“We have more speed to find, which is definitely a plus because we know we can get faster and then we will be in the mix,” Davis said.
The men’s heavyweight fours had solid showing, placing 13th, 23rd, and 25th out of 34 boats. The second four beat out the first four by just under 29 seconds, finishing with a time of 15:49.55. The “C” boat crossed the line with a time of 16: 22.67.
“We are a young team. This was the last big race of the season, so we have a bunch of time to work on things before the spring,” Davis said.
The men’s lightweight team finished seventh out of 31 boats, with the first boat finishing the race with a time of 13:54. 58, roughly 17.5 seconds behind first place finisher Penn.
The men’s lightweight fours also had a good showing at the meet with four boats placing in the top-20 out of a 32-boat field. The first four crossed the line with a time of 15:40.99, good for fifth place.
On the women’s side, the varsity eight boat had a strong finish, coming in 15th in a 43-boat field. The Red hit the line at 16:14.32, about a minute and a half behind first place finisher Princeton.
The women’s “B” eight had a time of 17:18.53, roughly a minute behind the Red’s first eight and three and a half minutes behind Princeton.
Princeton blew away the field, winning by a margin of 27 seconds, with second-place finisher Virginia hitting the line at 15:20.44.
The women’s two fours did not have as much success, finishing 24th and 31st, respectively, in a field of 43 boats. The first four finished with a time of 18:11.54, followed by the second four with a time of 18: 31.08. The Princeton “B” four beat out the Princeton “A” four by about two and a half minutes for first place.
Archived article by Catherine Bourque
Sun Contributor