As did the men's lightweight league last weekend, the women's varsity eight boasts no undefeated crews; of the top three seeds, Princeton beat Brown in March, Radcliffe beat Princeton two weeks later, then Brown beat Radcliffe two weeks after that. The late season momentum call would have to go to Brown, and they arrive at Sprints with yet another top seed. After the top three slots, fourth seed Yale has raced within closed water of both Princeton and Radcliffe, lost by some open water to Brown, and has beaten all other comers. The surprises: formerly fifth-ranked Virginia withdrew from the Sprints in early May for the friendlier waters of the Southern regionals, and Columbia has a varsity crew ranked in the top six for the first time in the 19-year history of the program.
In the 2V, Princeton will arrive in Camden ranked first and undefeated; the Brown and Radcliffe 2V's join their V8 teammates in the top three seeds. Wisco's 2V sets the pace for their program in the fourth seed. Fifth-seed Cornell's 2V likely contains some members of their Sprint-winning novice eights from a couple years back. Yale was only 2 seconds behind Brown in their May 3 meeting - if it's only 2 seconds from second to fifth, we're in for a tight final. Dartmouth's 2V had a bit of a hot streak going before falling hard to Cornell in the late season. Again, previously 2nd-ranked Virginia will be AWOL.
In the Varsity fours, it can be hard to know what to expect at Sprints, as late-season lineup changes are not uncommon. Yale shows up as the undefeated top seed - well, almost undefeated, having lost to a Brown frosh four. We'll have to let the racing sort this one out, but there's plenty on the line; the Varsity 4 is an important part of earning a team bid to the NCAA's.
In the 1N, the Brown novices have raced to open water victories weekly by some of the largest margins in the event in recent memory; if they show the same speed at Sprints, everyone else will have to settle for a race for silver. The pack is led by the Princeton novices, with a quick Northeastern crew in the third seed - they ended their regular season with a one-second victory over Radcliffe on the Charles on May 10.
In the 2N, the rankings will have to tell the tale; since many teams don't carry a full second novice eight, parsing the results gets tricky as crews break down into fours some weekends, race in eights other weekends. Cornell, Radcliffe, and Wisco are the medal seeds, followed by Northeastern, Dartmouth and BU.
In the lightweight women's eight, it's all about whether Radcliffe has an extra six seats in them. Princeton and Radcliffe have faced off several times this season, with Princeton winning all of the meetings by a second or so - right around six seats. Thus far, Wisco hasn't shown the speed to run with Princeton and Radcliffe, and leads the pack of bronze-medal hopefuls.
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