Tailwind conditions and bumpy water was the way of it for the heats at the 2007 EARC Sprints. The call on the radio was "15 mph sustained, gusting to 20," and both the racing and the times reflected this. Crews had a somewhat tough time with the side push, and the heats found coxswains swerving and finding the buoys along the course.
That said, it's as nice a day for racing as I can remember: pleasantly cool and sunny, an SPF-15 kind of day.
As is nearly inevitable in conditions like these, there was a new course record set: the Navy frosh lights shaved nearly a second off the old course record for their event in the heat in this morning, lowering the FL8 record to 5:47.15. Second-placed Princeton was also under the old course record, coming in at 5:48.07.
Trou sighting of the day: a Princeton coxswain pulled onto the starting blocks wearing a "Princeton Ice Skating" jacket...it was that kind of spring early on this year, definitely!
Mighty Blue Hens: the University of Delaware, just recently added as full members of the EARC Sprints, captured their first ever Sprints title today, with a win in the 3V Lightweight 4, run as a Grand Final in the AM. This might not be the highest ranking lightweight men's event out there, but the Delaware guys were definitely going for it. Not a bad way to join the league at all!
The Northeastern 3V four claimed the heavyweight fours grand, ahead of their NU 2F teammates, the Brown 2F and the Princeton 3V.
Cheer of the day, from a crew launching for one of the early afternoon finals: "Henley!"
A couple of upsets and upset-lettes: 11th-seeded Georgetown got out early on higher seeded Penn and Navy in the 2V8, and qualified for the grand behind Harvard, and the 7th seeded BU F8 squeaked by #6 Columbia to punch their ticket. Among the lightweights, the Cornell and Navy VL8s turned the tables on second-seeded Dartmouth. All three crews meet again in the Grand.
Brown is smoking: Brown qualified three of their four eights (V8, F8 and 3V8) with the fastest times in their events on the morning, whew. The top-ranked Brown 2V won their heat in a slightly slower time than Wisco.
In the V8, the big three of Harvard, Yale and Brown won their heats "as expected," but judging by times, this final will be a barnburner. Brown was the fastest qualifier, followed by Yale, Princeton and Wisconsin, with Harvard and Syracuse the slowest qualifiers, coming out of the same heat. The wind seems even enough to where lanes won't make a difference, but just for kicks, from lane 1 to 6, it's: Brown, Harvard, Yale, Wisco, Syracuse and Princeton.
On to the finals!
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