After a bumper crop of great racing, both the men’s and women’s coaches have released new polls with big shakeups at the top. This weekend, we will see some more of the big hitters come out and face off against each other at some big invitationals, especially on the east coast.
Coaches Poll
In the women’s poll, their storming victory at the San Diego Crew Classic, Texas have risen up the polls to number two and California’s proximity to them made the Golden Bears the biggest risers as they were up three spots to number four. Washington was the team to lose out as they fell all the way to seventh place following their 15 second loss to the Longhorns.
Further down the rankings, UCLA fell out of the top twenty following their disappointing performance at the Lake Natoma Invitational, bringing USC down three spots as their early season win over the bruins appears less impressive.
The men’s coaches have released their first poll in three weeks as they waited for all of their crews to see racing. Harvard shot up the charts following their impressive win in Sarasota, as they are anointed the number one crew in the country. Syracuse’s tight showing against California was rewarded with a rise to number seven, while Stanford’s underwhelming results both in Sarasota and the Pac-12 Invite were punished by sliding down to eleventh, the largest fall of any men’s team.
Week Four Preview
Following two weeks of massive races, the men’s fixture list is a little barer, but it certainly has some high quality matchups to look forward to, #6 Brown travel down to Boston in an attempt to repeat their Sarasota victory over #8 Northeastern in a dual setting. #4 Princeton host #9 Penn and #16 Columbia in what will be their toughest test so far, and #5 Yale will host #10 Dartmouth on the Houstatonic.
Outside the Ivy League, the Knecht Cup Regatta will be highlighted a showdown between #18 La Salle, #23 Temple and #24 Colgate among others while #12 Navy host the Occoquan Invitational against a field highlighted by #17 Georgetown and #19 Drexel. #3 Washington and #21 Oregon State will face off on the Montlake Cut, in what is expected to be a rout for the Huskies.
The women’s schedulers do not seem to have got the memo that this is to be a quiet week. The highlights will be on Lake Monticello as the UVA Invite takes hold. The best races will come on Saturday when in one heat #1Stanford, #5 Yale and #11 Virginia will test their mettle, immediately followed by #4 California, #8 Syracuseand #17 Oregon State. Sunday’s racing will be dual racing across the two heats with #1 Stanford vs #8 Syracuse and #4 California vs #11 Virginia being the pick of the action.
Further north on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, New Jersey, the Ivy League Invitational will take part as the entire conference minus Yale will be joined by #15 Rutgers and #20 USC for a series of three wide racing. #6 Brown and #10 Penn’s race on Friday as they are joined by #20 USC will probably be the pick of the lineups as the Ivy League gets a measure of each other, a month in advance of their Championship.
One can’t forget the dual racing which may be the most exciting of the lot: #2 Texas will be looking to follow up their Crew Classic success as they travel north to take on #9 Michigan on their home water. This pairing have become familiar with each other over the last few years and the Wolverines will be wanting to maintain their pride at their last home race of the season.
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