1997 Season in Review

Unlike their heavyweight brethren, the lightweight crew spent much of this season away from friendly Lake Carnegie. Just like the heavyweights, though, Joe Murtaugh's lightweights had another successful season, if not an undefeated one. The varsity boat lost only one race during the head-to-head season, by a mere seat to Harvard. That loss was the first regular-season loss since 1993, and the Crimson would continue to have Princeton's number as the season continued. The outcome wasn't as close at Eastern Sprints, where the Tigers lost by an open water margin to Harvard and by nearly four seconds to Yale. Still reeling, Princeton responded at the IRA regatta in Camden, N.J., to defeat Harvard in a preliminary heat. But the final later in the day saw the same result as at Eastern Sprints three weeks earlier, and Princeton had to settle for a third-place finish.

The lightweight crew triumphed over a strong Navy squad by 14 seconds on April 5 the lightweight program celebrated its 75th anniversary. Two weekends later brought the annual Wood Hammond Cup race against Pennsylvania, a race that the Princeton lightweights had won 16 consecutive years. Make it 17 years. Even the home course on the Schuylkill River and a gusty wind could not help the Quakers, who lost to Princeton by over three seconds.

The freshman boat went undefeated in 1997, winning by an average of over 10 seconds per race. With that undefeated freshman boat all returning, look for another streak and another Jope Cup for the overall points trophy at Eastern Sprints to happen next season.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The varsity eight lost only to Harvard in the head-to-head season, while the second varsity lost only to Yale.
  
• The first freshman boat went undefeated in head-to-head races.
  
• Princeton finished third at both the IRA and Eastern Sprints regattas behind Harvard and Yale.

Last year was the 125th year of heavyweight rowing at Princeton, but the 1997 crew proved that there's room for new things even among the oldest of monuments. The Tigers finished undefeated in head-to-head action, a feat not accomplished since James Garfield was President, and dominated Eastern rowing in a way that Princeton had never done before.

That head-to-head success culminated in an outstanding performance at Eastern Sprints, where the Tigers won the varsity race over Yale by nearly four seconds and took the Rowe Cup for overall points for the third straight year. Princeton also won the inaugural Ivy trophy for the best performance at Sprints among Ivy League teams.

Even a fifth-place finish at the IRA took little away from a dominating season by the varsity. The Tigers were severely challenged once, a narrow win over Yale on the windy Housatonic River, and won their head-to-head races by an average of six seconds.

To finish undefeated, the Tigers had to win the toughest race of the year in the season's final race on Lake Carnegie. Brown came to Princeton as the second-ranked crew in the East, also undefeated, and matched the Tigers stroke for stroke in the first 1700 meters of the race. But Princeton had the sprint at the end, and pulled a boat length clear by the finish to make history.

The most exciting race of that day came in the freshman race, as Mike Teti's frosh group finished in an unusual dead heat with the Penn. That group finished third at Eastern Sprints in its final race for Teti, who was named U.S. National team coach this season.

By going undefeated in head-to-head races for the first time since 1881, the heavyweights set the standard for another outstanding season at the boathouse and clearly proved they were still the best crew this side of the Pacific Northwest.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Princeton won the Rowe Cup honoring the overall points champion at Eastern Sprints for the third-straight year.
  
• The Tiger first varsity won the grand final at Eastern Sprints by four seconds over Yale.
  
• Princeton finished undefeated in head-to-head competition for the first time since 1881.

RESULTS

9-0 overall; 6-0 Ivy League
3/29	PRINCETON 5:48.56	Navy 6:01.59
4/5	PRINCETON 5:48.02	Rutgers 5:58.84
4/12	PRINCETON 5:50.35	Pennsylvania 5:54.83	Columbia 6:11.73
4/19	PRINCETON 6:17.60	Harvard 6:24.53	M.I.T. 6:53.99
4/26	Princeton 5:21.80	YALE 5:22:40	Cornell 5:40.70
5/3	PRINCETON 5:33.00	Brown 5:36.50
5/11	Eastern Sprints First
5/30-6/1	IRA regatta Fifth

Washington felt right at home Lake Natoma's 2,000-meter course, winning the varsity race by five seconds to take the national championship. The Tigers finished in third, enough to gain second place overall at the championship in Lori Dauphiny's first year as head coach.

The Tigers entered the inaugural NCAA championships as a seeded boat in all three disciplines (varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four) thanks to another fantastic head-to-head season and an impressive victory at Eastern Sprints, where the varsity boat defeated Brown by just over a second. Princeton lost only to Virginia in head-to-head races, a defeat that the Tigers avenged by twice finishing ahead of the Cavaliers in Sacramento.

The victory at Eastern Sprints solidified what many already knew Princeton had the East Coast's fastest boat. When the Tigers stunned defending-national champion Brown by three seconds to open the season at Lake Carnegie, the result was more than another big win. Princeton was supposed to be in a rebuilding mode after the graduation of several key rowers, but that all changed.

The week after the big win over Brown, the Tigers celebrated the 25th anniversary of the women's program by squeaking out a win over Rutgers at Lake Carnegie, with Columbia and Navy trailing behind. At Eastern Sprints, where the Tigers not only took the grand final but also the Willing Trophy honoring the overall points champion for the seventh straight year. In addition to the varsity, the second varsity won its race, while both novice boats finished second behind Radcliffe for first-year coach Melanie Onufrieff.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Tigers finished second behind Washington at the inaugural NCAA Women's Rowing championships.
  
• The Tiger second varsity boat earned the national championship by winning that event at the NCAA championships.
  
• Princeton lost only to Virginia during the head-to-head season.