A Great Weekend On The Water

There's a giant picture on the wall of Princeton's Shea Rowing Center that was taken a few minutes after the Tigers swept the 1998 men's lightweight and heavyweight national championships at the IRA Regatta.

There are somewhat younger versions of Princeton's current head coaches, Greg Hughes with the heavyweights and Marty Crotty with the lightweights, in that picture. Crotty was a senior on the heavyweight team, and Hughes was just starting out his coaching career after graduating in 1996 after having won a national championship as a lightweight rower himself.

TigerBlog remembers that picture well. He was there for the event, and he stood on the bank of the Cooper River in South Jersey to see both Tiger boats cross the line first, about 15 minutes apart. When that picture was taken, TB was next to the photographer.

Fast forward to the present, or at least this past weekend, and you have the best day of racing at the IRA Championships for the two Princeton men's teams since that day in 1998, as the lightweight men won the IRA national championship while the heavyweights came in third. Not since 1998 (when their combined finishes added up to two) had the two teams had their respective finishes add up to four or less.

Hughes and Crotty are extraordinary in so many ways, as coaches, alums and people. To see them have such a great weekend makes everyone across every sport at Princeton happy.

The long weekend of racing on Mercer Lake ended with the women's lightweight finals, the men's lightweight finals and then the men's heavyweight finals. The Princeton women's lightweights also dominated, winning the first varsity 8, the varsity 4 and the doubles while also taking the team trophy.

The lightweight women won their third straight IRA championship, and they did so in overwhelming fashion. After 500 meters, the lead was already two seconds. By the midpoint of the 2,000 meter race, Princeton was up by six seconds. The final margin was officially 6.2 seconds, over second-place Stanford.

The lightweight men spent almost the entire season ranked No. 1 in the country, and they certainly acted the part this weekend. Princeton destroyed the field, taking the first varsity 8, the second varsity 8 and the team trophy. 

If you were paying attention last week, you know that this is only the second time ever that one school has won the women's and men's lightweights, after Harvard/Radcliffe did so in 1997.

Unlike the women, the men were pushed the entire 2,000 meters in the first varsity 8 race. The Tigers actually trailed slightly (very slightly, at 0.2 seconds) after 500 meters, and even after they took the lead in the middle of the race, they never really shook the field.

Not that it mattered in the end. When it was over, Princeton men won by 1.8 seconds, giving the program its first IRA first varsity 8 lightweight men's title since 2010. The overall points championship was Princeton's sixth ever and also first since 2010.

Also if you were paying attention last week, then you know that TB was rooting for the University of Washington to come in second in the men's heavyweight rowing final. If you're wondering why and you didn't read it, TB ran into five U-Dub heavyweight rowers outside of Jadwin Gym during the Department of Athletics picnic and ended up giving them a quick tour. They were here, of course, for the IRA championships.

As it turned out, the Huskies did indeed finish second. Perhaps TB should have been a bit clearer. He was rooting for the Huskies to finish second and Princeton to finish first.

Instead, in the men's heavyweight first varsity 8, it was California repeating as champion, followed by Washington and then Princeton in third. It might not have been a championship, but it was a great showing for Hughes' team.

The last time Princeton's first varsity 8 heavyweights had a better IRA finish was in 2006, with a second-place. The 2015 and 2016 teams also won bronze. 

Princeton finished fourth overall in the points standings.

With the end of the great weekend on Mercer Lake, Princeton's 2022-23 athletic year comes down to four track and field athletes who will compete at Texas in the NCAA Championships this week. 

TB also wrote last week that it would be more surprising if Princeton didn't come out of these last two weekends without at least one national title than it would be in Princeton won multiple national titles. After this weekend of rowing, that statement proved to be prescient (TB thinks that means he was right).