All three rowing teams will be in action this weekend, with the lightweight team beginning its spring season in the North.
Although Columbia came away with the Governor’s Cup two weeks ago in Florida, this was largely due to the success of the heavyweight team. The lightweight team struggled in this regatta. In Flight 2 of the varsity eight race, Columbia finished in 6:34.94, behind Jacksonville but ahead of University of Central Florida. The Lions did not improve during the third flight of the race, coming in at 6:24.22, over ten seconds behind Florida Tech.
The only races in which the lightweights were successful were the freshman eight race and Flight 1 of the second varsity race. The lightweight freshman eight boat won both of these races, defeating the Columbia heavyweights and Jacksonville in the former with a time of 6:28.7, and besting Columbia’s second varsity boat and Florida Tech in the latter with a time of 6:35.1.
The team will look to bounce back from its underwhelming performance this weekend when it travels to Princeton to compete in a pair of tri-matches—one against Navy and Princeton, the other Harvard and Georgetown.
Last year, the lightweights faced Navy, Princeton, and Georgetown during the regular season, but were only successful against the Hoyas. The Lions lost all three races of their match against the Midshipmen last spring, with the varsity eight boat finishing in 6:31.4, just over five seconds behind. In a tri-match with Princeton and Georgetown, Columbia’s varsity eight boat was able to finish in 6:34.9, nearly ten seconds behind the Tigers but narrowly ahead of the Hoyas.
The match against Princeton and Navy will begin at 9 a.m., and the regatta against Harvard and Georgetown will open at 4 p.m., both in Princeton, N.J.
The women’s team will also attempt to recover from a less than stellar performance last weekend at the Connell Cup, where the varsity eight boat finished in 6:50.1, behind both Yale and Penn. Opening their Northern spring season against the Bulldogs—the first-ranked varsity eight crew in the country—was a difficult task for the Lions, and they will be looking for better results this weekend when facing Rutgers and Princeton, who came in eighth in the preseason poll.
Last season, the Light Blue triumphed over the Scarlet Knights but came up short against the Tigers in a tri-match. In the varsity eight race, Columbia came in at 7:08.5, fewer than six seconds behind Princeton, who finished in 7:02.8. Rutgers fell much farther behind, finishing in 7:30.8.
The regatta is scheduled to begin at 3:50 p.m. in New Brunswick, N.J.
The heavyweight squad is the only team that has yet to experience disappointment this season. After taking the Governor’s Cup in Florida, the Lions went on to steamroll the Scarlet Knights in the Collins Cup last weekend, their varsity eight boat finishing in 6:11.2, almost twenty second ahead.
Columbia will try to continue its success this weekend when it takes on MIT and Holy Cross in the Alumni Cup.
Last year, the heavyweight team won its fourth consecutive Alumni Cup, sweeping all three races against the Engineers and the Crusaders. In the varsity eight race, Columbia finished in 6:01.2, almost 15 seconds before both MIT and Holy Cross.
When asked which team he thought would be more challenging, head coach Mike Zimmer responded, “I couldn’t tell you which ones are going to be better, but we’ll go out and try to race our race as best as possible and hopefully execute it well enough that we can win.”
Columbia will try to up the tally to five in a row this weekend when competing in Boston on Saturday.
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