The Georgetown men’s lightweight fours claimed a second-place finish this weekend at the Princeton Chase, a highlight of the seven boats Georgetown men and women raced this past weekend.

The Hoyas sent six boats to the Princeton Chase and a seventh men’s boat to the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Pennsylvania.

Lightweight Varsity Head Coach Lee Rumpf was excited by the team’s finish in the men’s lightweight fours.

“The level of talent in that four is great.  It’s a lot to do with the work that we’ve done this year. That’s the best result that we’ve had at that regatta since 2010,” Rumpf said. “It shows that the training is working and that the team is in a really good place. It was good to race against other top rowers and have such a successful showing.”

The men’s light championship eights faced an unfortunate obstacle at the Head of The Schuylkill when Geneseo Crew Club, the team’s only other opponent in the race, scratched. Since the lightweight eights and heavyweight eights were in the same race category, however, the boat was added to the heavyweight eights competition.

“They would’ve finished eighth in the heavyweight competition, which included the U.S. National Team,” Rumpf said. “The boat we sent had varsity guys, and even a novice walk-on who had never rowed before coming here. It was a true picture of the team in one boat, and they did really well.”

In addition to the men’s performances, the women’s team added the four victors to a lightweight eights boat that competed well, finishing 25th out of 52, 12 spots behind its Princeton host.

The team’s success comes off of a lightweight four win for the women at the Head of the Charles two weekends ago. Women’s Rowing Head Coach Stephen Full and Assistant Coach Kieren Emery both emphasized the potential and youth of their rowers, and praised their performances at the Princeton Chase.

“They looked sharp. They looked aggressive,” Full said. “They did a really good job coming together as an eight. It’s still a young group.”

Full and Emery wanted to finish ahead of Princeton but are looking forward to finishing strong at the slate of races next weekend at the Head of the Occoquan Regatta.

The men’s and women’s teams also sent novices and freshmen to the Princeton Chase this weekend, and the coaches were pleased with how they performed. In the men’s freshman eights, the times for Georgetown’s lightweight and heavyweight boats were close, with the lightweight team finishing 11th, two spots ahead of the heavyweights.

“They’ve been training all year for this race and this [weekend’s] upcoming race to represent Georgetown in the freshman category. They had a lot of pride on the line this weekend, thinking about beating each other,” Rumpf said.

Regarding the women’s novice race, Full was focused on development.

“It’s more about how they feel about the piece. There is performing well comparatively, and there is performing well with the foundation we’re trying to lay,” Full said.

Both teams are looking to compete well and finish the season strong at the upcoming Head of the Occuquan Regatta.

“It’s just another opportunity for them to go out there and get a good time and compare themselves to some faster boats,” Full said.

Rumpf expressed a similar sentiment, hoping to finish ahead of teams they met last weekend.

“The lightweight eight that raced last weekend finished 40 seconds behind St. Joseph’s University Varsity eights. We get to race St. Joseph’s University Varsity eights this weekend, with a stacked lineup,” Rumpf said. “I would imagine that the best boat that we can put out is 40 seconds faster than that boat that we put out last week.”

Both teams conclude their fall season with the Head of the Occoquan Regatta on Nov. 4.