On the US circuit the winter season is well and truly over, and as April unravels, racing will heat up all across the country as we inch closer, week by week, to the IRA National Championship. After the fantastic racing at the Sarasota Invitational last weekend, two of the top teams in the nation in Syracuse and of course, reigning two time national championships California-Berkeley, got their elbows out alongside Wisconsin and Stanford at the Pac-12 Invite, while Princeton was at Navy to go head to head on the on the East Coast.
Pac-12 Invite
Forgoing their usual appearance at the Crew Classic, California was back racing at the legendary Redwood Shores against Syracuse. Neither of these crews have had a chance to really flex their speed yet this year, and they put on a show across their races. California’s varsity put three seconds into Syracuse, while the 2V asserted an even more imposing margin of seven seconds.
Syracuse has been on the rise in the last few years and has asserted themselves as a consistent top 10 team in the nation, and three seconds to the reigning national champions at this early stage in the season is impressive.
California likewise impressed in what will be a critical year for their program. Back-to-back national championships have left them as the undisputed ones-to-beat in in college rowing but even for them, there is room to build. Two in a row is a strong team, three in a row is a dynasty. You have to go back 20 years to the last time California won three championships in a row, and believe it or not, a key member of all three of those winning crews was none other than head coach Scott Frandsen. Even Coach Frandsen would be forced to agree that this year though, the third of this run, will be different from the previous two. The talent of those winning crews was undeniable, but almost the entire winning crew from last year has graduated into, or is taking the year off for, the Olympic Games. No member of the racing varsity this weekend has raced in the 1V before this season. They’ve grown up as collegiate rowers in a winning team, but now, it’s time for them to be the one’s doing the winning, and that transitional period from participant to executor is a sink or swim moment. If anyone can guide them through it though, its Scott Frandsen and his stacked coaching staff, which includes Sam Baum, a member of Yale’s staff during their dominant run from 2017-2019. They’ve had a great start, and I’m excited to watch this group carry on the winning ways.
Princeton at Navy
Princeton swept Navy across all four boats in tough conditions on Saturday, showcasing their maturity. Princeton will be interesting to watch as the season unfolds, following their sudden resurgence as a national title threat in 2022. They’ve carried that form forward for the last few years, buoyed by excellent recruiting and athlete leadership in the form of team captain Marco Misasi. Could this be the year they take home the championship, which would be coach Greg Hughes’ first?
Charles River Racing Series
The Boston schools were up and at it on Saturday morning too. Northeastern beat BU by seven seconds, while Harvard, after an impressive but very tight win over Washington last weekend, had a relatively comfortable 12-second win over Cornell. The story was largely the same in the 2V’s with Northeastern and Harvard again, taking wins. Conditions looked tough, and times were therefore unrepresentative of the true speed of these crews, leaving it a challenge to see how they fit into the greater span and ranking of things across the nation.
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