The Boat Race

TigerBlog starts today with Annie Anezakis, the former Princeton women's lightweight rowing captain. 

There was a story on goprincetontigers.com yesterday about how she'll stroke the Oxford Blue boat in the Oxford-Cambridge race this spring. TB supposes there are few events in the sporting world that can match the Oxford-Cambridge boat races for tradition and spectacle. 

The Boat Race, as it's known, dates to 1856, and the only interruptions in the series came during World War I, World War II and then in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. It has to be just a something very special to see in person.

The women's race dates back to 1927. It's only been since 2015 that the two events have been held together.

Just as Oxford and Cambridge were unable to race in 2020, Anezakis and her Princeton lightweight teammates also were sidelined by the pandemic. In fact, on the day that it was announced that the 2020 season was being shut down, Princeton's women's lightweights also found out that they were the No. 1 ranked team in the country.

The women's lightweight crew was able to get back on the water in 2021. Actually, the Tigers were able to do more than just row – they were able to win the IRA national championship.

You can read about the 2021 women in TB's book on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton. Their season, and the one before it, were the subject of the prologue, which you can read HERE.

Anezakis, by the way, is an Australian native, and she had to navigate serious travel hurdles to get home and then back to Princeton during the pandemic. 

If you want more information on the book itself, click HERE.

TigerBlog's book is a celebration of women's athletics and of the women who came to Princeton to compete. It is also talks about how important the athletic experience has been for them.

If there's a common theme throughout, that's it. So many of them cared, and continue to care, so much about what being an athlete has done to shape them and about what they learned while being Tigers. The women's ligthweight team of 2021, for instance, dealt with the disappointment of the 2020 cancellation, the joy of being able to return to rowing and the heartbreak they felt for their senior teammates of 2020 who didn't have the opportunity to come back.

There is a great deal of fencing in the book, as befits a team with the success that the program has had through the decades. This year's edition is up there with any of them, with an unbeaten regular season and an Ivy League championship achieved in dominant fashion.

This Saturday, the NCAA fencing regional will be held in Jadwin Gym, for both the men and the women.

Here is some information for fans who wish to attend:

Tickets: The event is free to the public. All guests age five and above must be fully vaccinated and present a vaccination card and ID at the door to gain entry. Children under the age of 5 do not require a vaccination card. A mask must be worn at all times.

NCAA Championships: The NCAA Championships are set for March 24-27 at Notre Dame. The Mid-Atlantic/South region has seven spots allocated in every weapon except for men's épée, where it has six. All six weapons have two national at-large spots each. Qualification to the NCAA Championships will be based 40 percent on regular-season results and 60 percent on finish at the NCAA regional.

This is the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional, with Drew, Duke, FDU (women), Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, NJIT, North Carolina, Penn, Penn State, Princeton, Stevens, Temple (women) and Wagner (women).

There's a huge weekend on its way for Princeton, but the fencing regional will be one of only two on-campus events (the other is Princeton-Rutgers men's lacrosse Saturday at 1; tickets available HERE). 

There are more teams who will compete in California than there are teams who will compete on campus, in fact. The women's lacrosse, women's tennis, women's water polo and softball teams are all in California for spring break matches.

This weekend is also the Ivy League basketball tournament weekend. Those games will be held at Harvard, where the Princeton women take on the home team Friday at 4:30 and the men take on Cornell Saturday at 11 in the semifinals.

HERE is the full schedule for the week.