After the head racing of the fall and a long winter in the gym, the US Collegiate rowing season is underway. There have been a few small events across the country, but this weekend there will be racing in every corner of the country.
Following the early season racing, there have been a few moves in the Pocock CRCA Coaches’ Poll, most notably Indiana moved up to number 13 while Duke slid to 15 after last weekend’s Cardinal Invite in Tennessee.
The men’s coaches’ association, the IRCA, are yet to reveal their first poll of the year at the time of writing.
The highlight of the men’s racing weekend will likely be in Rhode Island as Brown host the Boston University Terriers for the Michalson Cup. The terriers were a force to be reckoned with last year, topping the C Final at the National Championships and giving Brown a stern challenge at this race last year. This time round they may not be as quick after apparently losing to Navy last weekend in a scrimmage behind closed doors.
Elsewhere on the dual racing scene, Penn and Northeastern meet on the neutral water of Carnegie Lake in Princeton, New Jersey. Wisconsin are joined in their traditional season opener against Marietta by the Temple Owls who will provide a much stiffer challenge on the Ohio River. La Salle will be hoping to build on their season-opening win against Drexel as they travel to the nation’s capital to face Georgetown.
On the west coast, Washington will end their training camp in Chula Vista, California with a dual with the University of San Diego, while Oregon State play host to much of the other non-Pac-12 competition on the west coast.
On the women’s side, Loyola Marymount will host their last evert race against the #16 University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. Loyola have announced they are shuttering their Varsity rowing programmes after this season, so this battle of the LA schools will be the last Division One race hosted out of the Jane Browne Bove Boathouse.
Other notable events include more racing on Dexter lake as the #20 Oregon State women’s team host local rivals Washington State and distant competition from the University of Miami, Florida. In the suburbs of Washington, DC, the George’s Cup will be competed for between George Mason, George Washington and Georgetown.
But the highlight of the weekend comes on the Camden County course that hosted the NCAAs last summer. Six of the squads who qualified for the championship from the Big Ten, Ivy League and ACC will be uniting with #19 Harvard for a ‘dust up’ invitational. This will be the first opportunity to see Claire Ochal’s Harvard programme race in the Spring while also providing a potential measuring stick for the four top-twelve programmes attending and see how #5 Yale, #8 Penn, #11 Ohio State and #12 Syracuse are performing as they will each be looking to be at the business end of proceedings at the National Championships in June.
With racing roaring into action, it will be key to see narratives begin to develops as programs look to win, or perhaps just qualify for, the NCAA and IRA Championships in the first weekend in June.
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