Media preview types, college SIDs, press flacks and even coaches can all be forgiven any big-game hunting allusions made during this week before the EAWRC Sprints; folks are stalking the Tigers of Princeton this week.
It hasn't been good hunting for Princeton's EAWRC foes this year. In 2003, when Radcliffe would go on to win the Sprints and the NCAAs, both Yale and Princeton finished within 2 seconds of the Harvard crew. This year, the closest anyone has gotten to a dominant Princeton crew has been Yale, who finished 9 seconds (over a length of open water) adrift. Princeton beat Brown by 10 seconds to open the season, and finished 12 seconds up on Radcliffe two weeks later.
In other words, the race could be for the silver. As little as Brown, Yale and Dartmouth, the next three crews in this years' polling, will concede that without a fight, you have to respect the sheer size of the margins Princeton has been hanging on people.
Brown, ranked second headed into Sprints, looks to have found a gear late in the season, with a one-length victory over Yale two weeks before Sprints to their credit. Whether this late surge will be enough to claim the center spot on the podium from Princeton is anyone's guess.
Yale is ranked third, with a surprising Dartmouth, BU and Radcliffe rounding out the list of potential finalists. Dartmouth, under the tutelage of first-year head coach Wendy Levash, has been racing euphoric on the year after a pretty good string of years in the Petites. Dartmouth owns a close win over Radcliffe, the first in a while, and it'll be interesting to see if the raw emotion that has carried the crew through the regular season translates to championship-week speed.
BU has had a quiet, up and down spring, with all of its losses coming against the crews ranked ahead of it. Interestingly, BU can *almost* lay claim to the title of being the fastest women's crew on the Charles this year. BU defeated Radcliffe late in the season, while the BU/Northeastern dual was pre-empted by BU's trip to Minnesota; with NU having lost to Radcliffe to open the year, BU would seem to be top dogs. The heats at Camden may help to solve this...BU, Radcliffe and NU are back-to-back-to-back at 5-6-7 in the last pre-Sprints poll.
Columbia, George Washington, Navy,Syracuse & Cornell round out the crews in the top 12. With the massive speed at the top of the field this year, anything but a spot in the Petites would be an achievement, although Columbia did come creditably close to Dartmouth late in the season, and could be good for a surprise.
In the JV Eight, Brown has the top spot in the final poll after beating Yale in the last week of pre-Sprints racing. Both Yale and Brown had clean sheets (excepting a Yale loss to non-league UVa) going into that last week of spring racing. Behind these two crews is Princeton, who has lost only to the top 2, and Radcliffe. Columbia, Northeastern, Navy and BU round out the top 8 JVs, and the finalists and medalists should be determined from this pool.
The JVs carry a good amount of Willing Point Trophy intrigue with them, as good finishes in the JV can overcome weaker results elsewhere; in 2005, Princeton beat Brown in both the Varsity and JV, yet Brown carried the points win on the basis of sheer depth.
In the Novice ranks, Princeton's novice eight has taken a cue from the Varsity, winning their races by convincingly big margins. It will be very hard to knock the Tigers out of the top spot, though Dartmouth and Brown will give it a solid go. Dartmouth, ranked second, like Princeton doing their best Varsity imitation, having lost only to Princeton thus far. Brown, ranked third, beat fifth-ranked Yale by almost as much as Princeton did. Fourth is Radcliffe, perennial novice contenders who may yet grab hardware, Yale, and Cornell, who raced Dartmouth fairly closely, filling out the top 6.
Beyond the eights, the fours count towards the regatta points trophy, and the deep teams (Princeton, Yale, and above all, Brown) tend to take the medals home here. Northeastern has the poll's third-ranked Varsity four headed into Sprints, and could bring in some hardware. With the four figuring in NCAA calculations, and frosh rowers often moving up early (or late) in the season, the fours are often good for a few surprises.
The lightweight eight will once again be contested mainly by Princeton, who have turned the tables on former number 1 Radcliffe two weeks ago, and Wisconsin. These crews have had a virtual monopoly on the medals in this event.
With three #1 rankings heading into the regatta, Princeton is certainly the team to beat at the 2006 EAWRC Sprints. How will the Tiger-hunters fare?
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