Rowing closes fall season with Princeton Chase

This Sunday, all three rowing teams will be racing at the Princeton 3-Mile Chase in New Jersey to close out their fall season.

“The Chase is always very competitive and because it’s less dependent upon knowing the river, this is one of the races that a lot of crews use as a yardstick for how they’re progressing going into winter training,” head coach of the men’s heavyweight team Mike Zimmer said.

The Princeton Chase is on a relatively straight, three-mile course, unlike the route for Head of the Charles Regatta, where the Columbia crews competed last week. Featuring numerous turns and three bridges, the Charles was a difficult course, especially for crews unfamiliar with the terrain. The crews also faced some difficult weather conditions on the winding course due to a storm.

“[It was] a surreal scene, looking out through the snowflakes as all the crews rowed by,” Zimmer said.

The challenging course and weather resulted in a subpar performance for the men’s heavyweight team, as it finished 35th of 37 teams. Zimmer called last week’s race “a mixed bag,” saying that the Light Blue’s low finish “was affected primarily by a one minute interference penalty.”

“When we weren’t hitting bridges or colliding with other crews, I think we were moving the boat pretty well,” Zimmer said.

The Lions’ unofficial time was 15:33.047, slightly ahead of Boston University, who came in 21st with a time of 15:33.371.

Last year the heavyweight varsity eight performed very well at the Princeton Chase, placing third out of 40 boats behind Yale and Princeton, and beating out teams from Cornell, Dartmouth, and Boston University. Zimmer, who has made some changes to the lineup since the Head of the Charles, is optimistic.

“I think that the boat we’re going to go out with this weekend is pretty solid and I think that we’ll have a better showing,” Zimmer said.

The men’s lightweight team fared better at the Head of the Charles last weekend.

“The Head of the Charles was a pretty good race for us,” head coach Scott Alwin said. “The more experienced guys in that boat were consistent—and insistent—in the practices leading up to the race, which helped the younger guys.”

Columbia finished ninth out of 21 teams with a time of 16:05.654, slightly ahead of Harvard.

Last year at the Princeton Chase, the lightweight varsity eight boat came in 10th of 30 boats, right behind Dartmouth with a time of 14:06.511.

The Columbia women’s crew placed 29th of 31 with a time of 18:37.640 last week at the Regatta.

“We started the year by changing our technical focus so that we can be a faster, more effective crew in the spring,” head coach Melanie Onufrieff said. “At this point the changes are relatively uncomfortable for some and not instinctive for many, and the Charles performance reflected this. So although the result is disappointing, it’s not a complete surprise; as we take more strokes, we’ll find our speed.”  

Last year at the Princeton Chase, the women’s varsity eight placed 25th out of 43 boats. The Light Blue will be looking to place higher this year and improve on last weekend’s race.

“Our goal is to go faster than last Sunday,” Onufrieff said. “It’s been a great week of training, so it’s just a matter of letting that work for us on the race course.”

All three crews will finish their fall seasons this Sunday morning in Princeton, N.J., with the heavyweights racing first at 10 a.m.