The Red finished in first place this past weekend in the Belly of the Carnegie race held at Princeton. Different from most competitions, the Belly of the Carnegie brings together all first-year athletes from different universities. Each school brings two teams for all three divisions, women’s and men’s heavyweight and lightweight.
[img_assist|nid=19811|title=Training hard.|desc=The men’s lightwieght crew, competing above in the Schwartz Cup in Ithaca on Oct. 14, sent its rookies to the Belly of the Carnegie and Cornell emerged with the top overall finish. (Eric Safstrom / Sun Senior Photographer)|link=popup|align=left|width=100|height=58]
No individual team earned a first-place finish, but each team rowed well enough to give the Red the overall win. The women’s teams finished in sixth and seventh place, with the sixth-place team headed by freshman coxswain Caitlin Runyan.
“We had a great race. We have been training hard,” Runyan said.
Next week, the crew will head to Cambridge, Mass. to compete in the Foot of Charles, the last contest before off-season conditioning.
“It is a great thing as we’re heading into off-season conditioning,” Runyan said.
The men’s lightweight crew finished fourth and 11th, while the heavyweight crew came in fifth and ninth. All crews had to compete against other northeastern schools, in addition to the conditions.
“It was windy but it was still a good race,” said freshman Singen Elliot.
The race gave the Red freshmen and newcomers a chance to assess their transition from high school to collegiate rowing.
“It has been very different, a lot more intense, training six days a week for a hour and a half, with indoor workouts and weightlifting,” Elliot said.
Though training is strenuous, it has obviously paid of for the Red, which earned the weekend victory.
After off-season training, the team will head back into competition in the spring.
“The intensity steps up a lot in college, but it has been very rewarding for me,” said Elliot.