Crew Looks to Repeat Past Opener Success

The Light Blue men’s heavyweight and women’s rowing teams will be opening their conference seasons this weekend. The men’s team will race against Rutgers at the Collins Cup in New York, while the women will travel to New Haven to compete in the Connell Cup against Penn and Yale.

The Lions are entering the Collins Cup as the defending champions for the third year in a row. The team picked up wins in all three races, the varsity eights, freshman eights, and second varsity fours, leaving Rutgers far behind in the sweep. The heavyweight group is coming into the race after defeating Florida Institute of Technology and Rollins in the novice eights, varsity eights, and second varsity eights at the Governor’s Cup during spring break.

The women’s team will have a much harder time than the men’s squad at the Connell Cup. Yale’s varsity eight team won the NCAA title last year after an undefeated season. The Bulldogs won the Eastern Sprints competition two of the last three years and are currently ranked as the number one Division I team in the latest USRowing poll. The Lions should have little trouble defeating Penn, however. Last year’s Connell Cup placed Columbia second in between the two teams. The Light Blue was unable to win any event during last year’s competition but managed to defeat Penn in the varsity eights.

The Columbia women are coming into the Connell Cup after also training during spring break. The Governor’s Cup provided the Lions with much more competition than it did for the men’s team, and the Light Blue was able to emerge victorious in the varsity eight, second varsity eight, and varsity fours races. The team’s novice squad also made a strong showing against other schools’ varsity teams.

The men’s heavyweight competition will take place on Saturday morning at the Harlem River Racecourse. The women’s cup will take place in Derby, Conn., also on Saturday morning. The men’s lightweight team will open its conference season next weekend against Princeton and Georgetown.