If you want to know the story going into the 2009 Sprints, read the story going into the 2008 Sprints - the regular season results at the top of the league read almost identically, from the last weekend in March right through to the first weekend in May.
Headed into Sprints weekend, the crews to beat in the V8 seem to be Brown and Yale. The Brown/Yale rivalry has really deepened in recent years, producing memorable (and ragingly fast) racing just about anywhere these two crews square off: Derby, the Seekonk, Camden, Natoma, you name it. Brown's 0.1 second win two weeks ago is merely the latest installment. (To be fair, Yale had suffered an injury in the 1V during the week that forced coaches to shuffle lineups...not exactly ideal when Brown is coming into town.) Brown thus heads into Sprints as the #1 seed, but if you recall the massive sprint that Brown used last year at Sprints to defeat top-seeded Yale, you have both an idea of what Brown is prepared for, and what Yale is trying to do this weekend.
In any event both crews and their coaches are aware that a long season of D1 women's racing doesn't hinge on a single result...Yale bounced back from that loss at Sprints to win NCAAs, while Brown succesfully defended their team title at the same regatta.
Another crew very much in the running, and perhaps the only crew with the wherewithal to break the Brown/Yale wedge is Princeton. Princeton beat Brown to open the season, and lost to Yale by six seats in Yale's closest result outside of their razor-thin loss to Brown. If Princeton can get on their horses on Sunday, a medal other than bronze is definitely in the cards.
Behind these three, the gap starts to widen somewhat. Radcliffe at #4 was within 5 seconds of Yale, but that margin may prove too big for the Black and White to make up. However, in 2008 Radcliffe had fairly staid results during the regular season, only to surge to a bronze medal at Sprints and a strong finish at NCAAs a few weeks later.
Dartmouth at #5 and Northeastern at #6 were 6 and 12 seconds back from Radcliffe, respectively, which amounts to almost 20 seconds from first to sixth seeds, which, perhaps not coincidentally, was the exact margin in the Sprints Grand last year. BU, Syracuse and Penn make up the 7/8/9 seeds, and have realistic shots at the final from the middle of the field; Penn and BU made the Grand last year.
At the JV level, a shift has occurred in that Brown isn't the undisputed king of the mountain anymore. Yale enters the weekend in Camden with the top seed, having beaten Brown by half a length, who in turn opened the season with a one and a half-second win over Princeton. Princeton in turn beat Radcliffe by less than a full length, so this event may very well produce some of the tightest racing at the regatta. Dartmouth, BU, Penn and Columbia make up the other likely finalists in this event.
Down to the lower events, the 2009 EAWRC Sprints continue to very much read like the Brown/Yale show, as these crews take turns swapping top seeds all the way down the program. Brown gets the nod in the Novice 8+, the 3V4 "A" and the 2nd Novice 4 (with 11 entries, this could be an interesting event), while Yale gets the nod at #1 in the 3V4 "B". Yale and Brown notwithstanding, some of the most entertaining racing happens in these lower events, and also tend to get a greater variety of crews to the awards float.
The lightweight events at Sprints have a meager entry this year, with five crews in the V8, four in the 2V, and just four crews in the lightweight four, including two Wisconsin entries. Wisconsin swept the lightweight events in 2008, and look poised to repeat; earlier this year Wisconsin coach Erik Miller remarked with some wonder on the absence of lightweight novice eights around the league, here's hoping that 2009 is blip in this regard, and not an indication of a larger trend in collegiate lightweight women's rowing.
On to Camden! row2k will bring you reports and photos from the EAWRC Sprints when racing begins on Sunday.
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