The standard of women’s collegiate crew has never been higher, and it has been a pleasure to watch so many women compete head-to-head in challenging yet fast conditions. Many races this week saw racing being moved later the day due to difficult, deteriorating conditions, however this didn’t deter athletes from facing these challenges head on and competing at the highest level.
The CRCA poll saw movement with Texas moving into #2 and Princeton sliding down into #3. University of Washington fell to #7 while Cal jumped up to #4. The pressure is starting as the NCAA championships edge ever closer. Who will come out on top this year?
Ivy League Invitational
Day 1 of the Ivy League Invitational saw top Ivy league crews race it off down the 2000m course in Lake Carnegie, Princeton New Jersey. Racing was impacted by difficult tailwind conditions that made for a fast race however, racing proved to be challenging as rowers were forced to work through the deteriorating conditions. The first race saw #6 Brown 1V take a 2.4 second win over #10 Penn, with #20 USC crossing the finish line 21 seconds later. Brown collected four wins in their 1V, 2V8, A4 and B4 that rain-soaked afternoon. With all their boats looking strong, Brown goes into tomorrow’s racing with much confidence as they take on Harvard and Colombia.
The next set of racing saw #15 Rutgers, Colombia and Dartmouth go head-to-head with Rutgers taking the win over Columbia with a time of 6:21.5 by 9.7 seconds with Dartmouth crossing the line 15.1 seconds later.
Ivy-favorites, Princeton went head-to-head with Harvard and Cornell, taking the win by 15.7 seconds over Harvard with a blistering fast time of 6:10.0. Cornell crossed the line 42.2 seconds later.
Day two saw another day of challenging conditions on Lake Carnegie. #3 Princeton 1V finished off the weekend strong, taking down #15 Rutgers by 5 seconds and #20 USC by over 20 seconds. #10 Penn IV dominated against Dartmouth and Cornell beating their counterparts by 28 seconds. The final races were between #6 Brown, Colombia and #18 Harvard, with the Brown 1V taking the strong win over Columbia and Harvard by over 13 seconds. Both Princeton and Brown should take much confidence with these results, and they look onwards towards their preparations for Ivy League Championships in a few weeks’ time.
George Washington Invite
Despite high winds and difficult conditions, George Washington got on the water for multiple matches and came out on top, dispatching both North Caroline and Drexel at this invite. The V8 race saw George Washington take the win over North Carolina with a speedy 6:07.4, 7.3 seconds ahead of their counterparts. The George Washington V8 saw another win against Drexel, this race closer in margins as George Washington crossed the finish line 4 seconds ahead of Drexel. George Washington also saw similar wins in their 2V8.
Texas vs Michigan
#2 Texas collected four victories over Michigan for the second consecutive year on Saturday as they went head-to-head at Belleville Lake. Racing was strongly impacted by strong tailwind conditions which both crews struggled with however, Texas kicked off the morning with a victory in the 1V winning with a time of 6:08.1, five seconds ahead of Michigan. The 2V followed suit, leading with open water and crossing the finish line in 6:22.3 with Michigan 12 seconds behind. Both the A4 and B4 saw similar victories. Texas looks forward to what is ahead as they show strength and speed this far into the season. They will definitely be a crew to watch come NCAA championships.
UVA Invite
#4 Cal swept the first day of this ACC/Pac-12 Invitational at Lake Monticello in Fluvanna County on Saturday evening. The event moved to evening racing due to windy conditions. Cal won all their races against #8 Syracuse and #18 Oregon State. However, racing was close with the Cal V8 crossing the finish line with a time of 6:15.1, 4 seconds ahead of Syracuse. The 2V8 saw similar margins with Cal crossing the finish line 5 seconds ahead of Syracuse. Both the A4 and B4 dominated their races against Syracuse and Oregon State.
#1 Stanford, #5 Yale and #11 Virginia also battled it out with extremely challenging conditions down at Lake Monticello in Virginia. Stanford dominated all races finishing out on top in all three races. Due to windy conditions, the races were moved to the early evening. The Stanford A4 finished out first in 7.04, with Yale finishing 2 seconds later and Virginia crossing the line over 16 seconds later. The 2V8 saw Stanford finish over 5 seconds ahead of Yale and over 10 seconds ahead of Virginia. Similarly, the Stanford V8 dominated the race finishing in 6:109, over 8 seconds ahead of Yale and 17 seconds ahead of Virginia. Stanford continues their streak of success and look onwards for more competitive racing against Syracuse on Sunday and Texas in less than two weeks’ time.
Kansas Double Dual
Iowa, Kansa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma competed over the weekend in this Big Ten/ Big 12 Double Dual at Wyandotte County Lake. The weather and win were challenging but boats responded and handles these conditions well. Iowa won 12 out of the 14 races which shows the depth that is developing in this program. The 1V race saw Iowa take the win over Minnesota by just over a second. Iowa continued to take the wins in the 2V8, A4, B4 and 4V8. The Big The invite is next weekend, and Iowa look onwards to make another statement in this important race leading into the NCAA championships.
With such an exciting week packed full of racing, we look forward to Wednesday to see how this has affected the polls and what we can expect from next weekend.
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