6th-Ranked Lightweights Beat Georgetown to End Regular Season
4/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Lightweight Rowing
WEST WINDSOR, N.J. -- The wind is always blowing at Mercer Lake in this Princeton-area community. Most of the time it's a crosswind, sometimes a head wind.
In Saturday's regatta with Georgetown, it was doing both, at times gently, at times fiercely. So Columbia had to overcome two foes -- the Hoyas and the wind. It is a tribute to the strength and preparedness of the Columbia lightweights that they were more than equal to both foes, as they took three of four races from Georgetown.
This has not been the best of seasons for the Georgetown lightweights, but they've been working hard. You could see that when they flashed some impressive speed in getting off the starting line first. But the Lions weren't exactly slow.
"Georgetown showed more speed through the first 500 {meters]," head coach Marc DeRose said. "We struggled a little in the first 500, but we kept our composure and fought."
Just past the 500 marker, Columbia went ahead. By the halfway point, 1000 meters, the Lions were up by three seconds. Georgetown wouldn't quit, and neither would the wind, blasting broadsides at both shells. Still, Columbia improved its position, opening a quarter length of open water with 500 to go, and withstood Georgetown's closing sprint to lead by a half boat length of open water at the end.
The Lions were timed in 6:25.19 to Georgetown's 6:30.55.
The first freshman race was even closer, as the two boats traded advantages through the race before Columbia pulled slightly away with about 400 meters to go, and withstood a closing surge to win by 1.5 seconds, in 657.08 to 6:58.58.
The second freshman fours concluded a remarkable regular season. As they had done frequently throughout the spring, they not only beat Georgetown, they won by a sizable margin -- this time, 30 seconds -- to finish undefeated at 11-0!
The only disappointment of the day was the second varsity, which lost to the Hoyas by seven seconds.
"Coach V [freshman coach Vaclav Kacir] and I are happy with the results," DeRose said. "We've had a pretty good regular season." Columbia now faces academic final exams while preparing for its athletic exams, the Eastern Sprints on Sunday, May 21 in Worcester, Mass.
The results:
Varsity Eights
1. Columbia, 6:25.19
2. Georgetown, 6:30.55
Second Varsity Eights
1. Georgetown, 6:47.06
2. Columbia, 6:54.24
Freshman Eights
1. Columbia, 6:57.08
2. Georgetown, 6:58.58
Second Freshman Fours
1. Columbia, 7:46.70
2. Georgetown, 8:16.09
