Highlights
• The Tigers won
EWARC Sprints for the second consecutive year.
• Princeton took first place in the IRA Championship to win
the program's first national title.
• The Tigers won the Camden Invitational on the Cooper
River in Philadelphia.
• 1999 was only the second year of varsity status for
women's lightweight crew.
A 1978 article in The Daily Princetonian began, "One of the best-kept secrets on the Princeton campus is the excellence of the women's crew team." Granted that statement was made long before Heather Smith stood at the helm of the women's lightweight crew as it made its first appearance on the water in 1998. For those of you that were under a rock during the 1999 season, the secret is out.
In only its second year as a varsity sport, the women's lightweight crew
team has already made its mark among the elite, winning the 1999 national title with a first place finish at the Intercollegiate Rowing Associaion championships. Although women's lightweight is still growing across the nation, it has definitely found a home on Lake Carnegie.
Whether the Tigers were successful in their first outing
of the year is all a matter of perspective. In the San
Diego Classic, Princeton took first in the qualifying heat in a field of six boats, but was disqualified because the coxswain was not carrying its weight. The team was allowed to participate in the championship event that afternoon, but with exhibition status. The Tigers crossed the finish line first; however, they were not considered the winner. Villanova, coming in three seconds after Princeton, took home the championship.
Princeton returned to the Northeast for the Camden Invitational on the
Cooper River, two weeks after being disqualified in California. The six-boat field saw the Tigers cross the finish line 11.09 seconds ahead of the host Wildcats. After an easy win against Wisconsin on Lake Carnegie, the Tigers traveled to Cambridge for a showdown against Radcliffe, who had seemed to be the nemesis of 1998. Princeton took a 14-second advantage across the finish line and took a 2-0 record into the season final on its home water. Hosting Virginia and Georgetown, Princeton rowed a 15-second victory en route to a perfect 4-0 mark heading into the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges Sprints.
For the second time in its two-year existence, Princeton proved to be too
tough from start to finish, winning the prestigious event with a time of 6:31.20, its fastest of the year.
The last event of the season would be the IRA championship, held on the
Cooper River in Camden to determine the nation's best. After a third-place finish in their first appearance in the national championship race in 1998, the Tigers refused to be denied in 1999. USRowing and
the coaches committee could not have called it any better. Let's take a look at the first regular season poll from late March. Princeton took the top spot followed by Villanova in second. Virginia was in third with Wisconsin in fourth. Radcliffe rounded out the top five.
Six weeks and five races later, the scenery had very few changes. With a
four-second advantage, Princeton won the grand final and its first national
championship with a time of 6:32.30, a new IRA record. 1998 champion Villanova came in second, followed by Virginia. Radcliffe took fourth, and Wisconsin slipped in fifth.
Smith's recipe for success may be kept under wraps, but the fact that Princeton is at the top of the lightweight crew world is not a secret any longer.
1999 Results
4-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy
3/28 San Diego Classic # Princeton * 7:31.60 1. Villanova 7:33.00 2. Virginia unavailable 3. Wisconsin unavailable 4/11 Camden Invitational $ 1. Princeton 7:54.86 2. Villanova 8:05.95 Cambridge (Exh.) 8:06.56 3. Virginia 8:19.99 4. Radcliffe 8:20.64 5. UMass 9:06.14 4/17 1. Princeton 6:56.10 2. Wisconsin 7:06.50 4/24 1. Princeton 7:30.47 2. Radcliffe 7:44.86 4/24 1. Princeton 7:13.30 2. Virginia 7:28.10 3. Georgetown 8:06.80 5/16 EAWRC Regatta % 1. Princeton 6:31.20 2. Virginia 6:36.30 3. Radcliffe 6:37.50 4. Wisconsin 6:49.10 5/29 IRA championships & 1. Princeton 6:32.30 2. Villanova 6:36.30 3. Virginia 6:39.30 4. Radcliffe 6:48.60 5. Wisconsin 6:52.90 6. Mercyhurst 7:09.00
# at San Diego, Calif.
$ at Philadelphia, Pa.
% at New Preston Conn.
& at Camden, N.J.
* Princeton was disqualified in the trial heat but raced in championship heat with exhibition status
