Crew Teams Compete At Annual Princeton Chase in New Jersey
The MIT Crew teams traveled to Carnegie Lake in Princeton, N.J. this weekend to compete in the 28th annual Princeton Chase. This competition is a 2.75-mile head race attracting elite crews from all over the northeast.
The varsity heavyweight men’s eight, stroked by Luke S. Urban ’09, took to the water first. Starting behind the University of Virginia, the men came off the line fast and passed UVA before the halfway point of the race. The men continued charging and crossed the line with a time of 13:50 to obtain ninth place overall in the field of 39 crews, ahead of Eastern Sprints rivals Dartmouth University, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Rutgers University, and the College of the Holy Cross.
The men’s heavyweight freshman eight took sixth place in their race out of 16.
Coxswain Rishi Dixit ’12 had nothing but praise for his crew: “We had a lot of top competition, and we had only been rowing together for one week. We’re only going to get better from here.”
The lightweight men finished 17th and 28th in their two varsity eights. The men showed large improvements over their performance at the Head of the Charles, defeating Saint Joseph’s University and league rivals Pennsylvania. They continued with a good showing in fours, finishing 18th, 26th, and 33rd. The team is looking forward to the rest of the fall and the coming winter training.
The openweight women raced a varsity and a freshman eight. Racing well, the varsity openweights passed Villanova University on their way to a 30th place finish in a field of 44.
“It was a solid performance and we are happy with our results,” co-captain Inessa Liskovich ’09 said.
The freshmen openweight eight fared even better, pushing to a fifth place finish out of sixteen crews. MIT’s lightweight women competed with two eights in the same openweight women field. The first eight, mostly consisting of members of the Class of 2011, finished 39th out of 44.
All squads’ freshman boats will be racing next week at the Dartmouth Green Monster Freshman Invitational at Hanover, N.H. The varsity teams will compete again at the Foot of the Charles on Saturday, Nov. 15.