Most of the University seems to be dreading the unavoidable community chill that settles in around this time of year. But one group seems to be altogether receptive of the weather: the Virginia women's rowing team. The Cavaliers will be heading up to New Jersey this weekend to participate in the Princeton Chase at Princeton University Saturday. The race will feature many of the nation's top rowing teams, including Princeton, Yale, Brown, Harvard, Virginia and Georgetown.
Last weekend Virginia finished fourth in the Charles Regatta, which is one of the biggest and most competitive races of the year. Virginia placed behind two national squads and Princeton, which finished two seconds ahead of Virginia.
This weekend's race will be a good opportunity for the Cavaliers to even the score against Princeton and to gain an advantage against other nationally acclaimed programs. However, the race is being held at Princeton and it will be especially difficult to knock off the Tigers on their home course.
"Princeton was the top college this past weekend behind the U.S. and Canadian national teams," Virginia coach Kevin Sauer said. "We were two seconds behind Princeton and fourth out of 45 crews in the race."
Historically rowing is a sport that has been dominated by the Ivy League. Harvard, Yale and Princeton traditionally have had very strong crews and enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in the sport. However, Virginia has been competing at the same level of the Ivy League schools and finished ahead of every school, except Princeton, in the Charles Regatta. This weekend's race will be especially significant because Virginia will be able to compete against crews from the nation's top programs.
"Historically, Princeton has been one of the top crews in the country," Sauer said. "They were NCAA champions last year and they rarely get beat on their home course. Racing them on their home course is something we like to do and challenge ourselves with."
The Cavaliers are very confident heading into this weekend's race because of their strong showing last weekend. They will therefore employ the same lineup of rowers that was used during the Charles Regatta race. Virginia will also take five crews of eight rowers to Princeton, whereas most other schools will likely take two or three crews of eight.
"This week we've been trying to maintain or increase our speed a little bit," Sauer said. "First half of the race we need to go a little faster and then hold onto that speed during the second half. We want to see how far up the ladder we can get all of our boats in the final standings."
Virginia is intent upon getting off to a great start in the race. Last weekend the Cavaliers did start the way they would have liked and finished just behind Princeton. Tomorrow Virginia hopes to get out of the gates very quickly and put the pressure on Princeton and the other teams.
"Princeton starts first and they have an advantage," senior Chrissie Monaghan said. "If we can come out really strong in the first half of the race we can wear them down. A good start is going to be really key for us."
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