GU Posts Wins Over Princeton, Columbia

After posting victories over No. 2 Princeton and No. 5 Columbia in what is one of the biggest wins in recent memory, the No. 7 Georgetown varsity lightweight crew came home this weekend with an addition to their wardrobe they had been eyeing for years: Princeton Tiger T-shirts.

Fulfilling an old tradition whereby the members of the competing teams bet their shirts before the race, the Tigers and Lions awarded the Hoyas the coveted shirts after their victory.

The varsity heavyweight crew defeated Rutgers on Sunday making last weekend a great success for Georgetown rowing.

In the lightweight varsity eight, coxed by senior J.P. Van Arsdale and stroked by senior Geoff Sonn, six out of the eight rowers and the coxswain were seniors. A slight headwind, flat water and a tail current made for excellent racing conditions for the six Hoyas making their fourth and final early spring trip to Lake Carnegie in Princeton, N.J. Although experienced and rowing with notably excellent form, this boat had never defeated the Tigers until Saturday.

“We’ve got a bit of a win streak going against Columbia, we’ve won each of the past three years” said senior Jeff Anchukaitis, “but every year we come up here and chase that first win against Princeton.”

Georgetown’s determination was evident from the first stroke. They moved out in front from the start and settled to a rate of 36 strokes per minute that carried them to a boat length lead over Columbia at the halfway mark. Princeton trailed the Lions by about three seats.

The Hoyas knew they had not locked up the win, however, and that is when they made their move. Princeton pulled even with Columbia coming into the home stretch, but Georgetown held on and finished five seats in front of the Tigers, who edged past Columbia in the final seconds.

“We went up to their house and put together a great race, and beat them,” said sophomore Andrew Adler. “That’s something special.”

In the second varsity race, Georgetown suffered equipment damage and was forced to row the last 1,000 meters with only seven men. The Hoyas finished third, while Princeton won by seven seconds over second place Columbia.

Princeton also won the freshmen race with Georgetown placing third.

Meanwhile, on New Jersey’s Raritan River, the weather was chilly and there was a crossing head wind along most of the course. The water was fairly smooth for the first 1,850 meters, but the chop picked up towards the finish, making the final sprint even tougher than usual.

The heavyweight men’s varsity eight, stroked by junior John Forrest with senior coxswain David Timby, defeated Rutgers by half a boat length of open water, equivalent to about six seconds.

The Rutgers boat that the varsity team competed against was composed of mostly sophomores who this year replaced many of the upperclassmen on varsity. As a result, the Rutgers second varsity boat was composed of mostly upperclassmen.

The eight, stroked by sophomore David Fernandez and coxed by sophomore Alex Taft, rowed a strong back and forth race and fought hard to the finish. The boats were dead even coming into the last 10 strokes, when three bad strokes through rough water caused the Georgetown boat to fall back and finish three tenths of a second behind Scarlet Knights. The freshmen also completed the 2,000-meter course, but were unsuccessful against a very strong Rutgers novice crew.

The heavyweight men’s crew will face Cornell in Princeton, N.J. and the women will take on MIT and Drexel in Philadelphia on April 7.