2024 IRA National Championship – Women’s Lightweight Previews

Alongside the men’s heavy and lightweight events, a number of women’s crews will race for their lightweight collegiate national championships on Lake Mercer this weekend. Nine universities from across the country have thrown their hat into the mix across the events, with six boats slated to race in the premier event.

Women’s Lightweight Varsity Eight

Defending champions Princeton have managed to stretch their unbeaten run in this boat class to almost five years, picking up three successive national championships. This season, they have beaten all-comers by at least three seconds and have shown no signs that anything but a fourth consecutive national title is on its way back to the Shea Rowing Center. If they were to achieve this, Kalena Blake and Lily Feinerman would be in line to row in the national champion and undefeated lightweight eight in all four years of their collegiate career – a phenomenal achievement.

Harvard have been the closest crew to the tigers in racing this year and were the only crew within their shadow at women’s Sprints. The Radcliffe crew is otherwise unbeaten and has put together a strong resume against both light and open-weight crews throughout the season. While Sarah Baker will be preparing this crew to win the event, she may be satisfied with a first medal for the programme since her debut season as head coach. 

While they have put together a great season in the smaller boats, Boston University haven’t quite been front-runners in the flagship event. They were third at the women’s Sprints and followed that with a rather disappointing trip to Redwood Shores, where they finished 14.5 seconds off the pace of their hosts, Stanford. If Mary Foster chooses to reinforce this crew with those from the lower boats, they may be a threat for a medal in her first year at the helm for the Terriers. Otherwise they may still put out a good showing as it has been some weeks since their last race and they have had plenty time to build speed.

From the west coast, Stanford is the only crew in the entry that were not present at Eastern Sprints, so the challenge is to see where they fit into the east coast hierarchy. The coaches’ poll places them third in the country but Charles Maxwell’s respected computer system has placed them at the top of the tree since their emphatic win at home to Boston University. In April, they were 6.5 seconds behind Princeton despite home advantage so their cMax positioning may be a little optimistic, but the Cardinal will be confident they can upset the East Coast party this weekend in New Jersey.

Rounding out the field are Georgetown and Wisconsin. Both were well off the pace at Eastern Sprints, with margins of 17.9 and 28.9 seconds to the victorious Princeton crew respectively. For programmes like these who are in a rebuilding phase, it is difficult to measure progress in such a sparse field but Abby Wilkowskiand Hodge Habibovic will each have their own targets at this race and definitions of success. 

Prediction

With such a spread-out field at women’s Sprints there is unlikely to be enough change to alter the order of those five crews so the question remains where Stanford will slip in. My guess would be silver as Princeton take their fourth successive title and Harvard win bronze.

Women’s Lightweight Varsity Four

Of the two programmes that are racing their top athletes in this event, the fastest is MIT. Winners at the Dad Vail Regatta for the second year in a row, the crew have limited alternative experience within the boat class, having raced the eight at the Beanpot against river rivals Harvard and Boston University, finishing several lengths down. In the smaller boat they will be looking for further success but that may be hard to find.

The other team with their top crew in this event is Gordon College, a small college in North-East Massachusetts. The fighting Scots have a lightweight-focused rowing programme. Last year they only raced in the double and finished at the back of the field. This time, Maddie Hopkins brings a women’s lightweight four. At women’s Sprints this boat was well off the pace, more than 90 seconds behind the winning crew so this may not be a crew in contention for the title.

A crew that is looking fast is the outfit from Boston University. Five seconds to the good at Women’s Sprints, they backed this up with a 16 second win against Stanford on the west coast. If this crew stays together, they are almost untouchable as they head towards the national championship. They will be expecting nothing less than the Cooper River Cup.

The crew from Harvard were the best of the rest in Worcester, but the group have not been overly convincing in that status, having lost twice in the regular season. They overturned the defeat to Princeton by women’s Sprints but remain unable to challenge the strong outfit from along the Charles. Like in the eight, this crew seems more than capable of winning a medal, but the top honours may be beyond Radcliffe again here based on the results from Sprints.

The defending champions Princeton seem unlikely to repeat their sweep of the events as they did last year as they finished 6.6 seconds behind the victorious Boston University crew at Sprints. This puts them 1.6 seconds behind Harvard, more than a four second swing in the wrong direction from their dual a month previously. Another month on from that race, they will be hoping that their training has appropriately prepared them to recover that gap and they don’t slip further down the field.

Prediction

This contest seems likely to be a great one for the Charles as I would pick Boston University and Harvard for first and second respectively. For bronze, I wouldn’t be surprised if they slipped further back from the front but there is no one in waiting to take the medal off Princeton.

Women’s Lightweight Varsity Double

The only sculling boat at a Varsity national championship, the double has representation from all nine programmes racing this weekend.

At the front of the field is likely to be Boston University as the combination of Caroline Burchette and Kylie Lough backed up their victory at women’s Sprints with a commanding victory over Stanford on the road, as the Terriers seek to earn their fourth win in this event, their most successful boat class of the three at the championship. The two sophomores will have the opportunity for their first taste of national dominance and will be excited to seize it.

Hot on their heels was the crew defending the championships from Princeton. The Tigers finished just 2.2 seconds behind the Terriers and will be keen to perform as well as possible, not just for the event itself but also for the Commissioner’s Cup for the best overall team standing which looks likely to be a showdown between Princeton and Boston University.

Coming from the West Coast, the Stanford double – most recently represented by Hannah Peters and Elle Rosenfeld – may be in the running for a rather open bronze medal position. While they haven’t seen many crews other than those mentioned above, they did manage a six second win over Wisconsin in the cold on Lake Mendota.

Another interesting crew is that from Oklahoma City University; their only entry in the women’s lightweight squad is the double of Ruthie Lacy and Lucy Oney. They placed second in the openweight double at the Dad Vail Regatta behind only an entry from north of the border and ahead of MIT and many other of the potential competitors, earning themselves the four-seed for the championships

Prediction

For the gold and the silver, it is a coin toss between Boston University and Princeton but with a month in training the sculling of both crews will sharpen and my pick would go to Princeton given all the experience of winning in that boathouse. For bronze, the outsiders from Oklahoma City are just too alluring not to root for.

About The Author