Women's collegiate lightweight rowing is a fairly small world; few schools support full-fledged lightweight rowing, and it's with intense pride that the teams that do compete all year. The Women's Sprints represents one of the highlights of the racing season every year, and with just a few short weeks to go until the IRA National Championship regatta, all the lightweight teams are working on their top gear at this time of year.
This year, the newest kid on the block is also making the loudest noise. A mere five years since being added as a Varsity sport by Boston University, the BU Terriers enter the Eastern Sprints as the team to beat. This is not by accident--the BU lights have bested all comers from the East coast this year, their only losses coming to defending national champs Stanford.
"It's definitely part of the process," said BU Lightweights head coach Malcolm Doldron. "I look at some of our competitors and see rich, multi-time-championship-filled histories. We haven't been around long enough to experience that. I'm confident we can get there eventually, but we're still a very young program with tons to figure out."
The BU Lights have proudly produced several program firsts this year: besides their 2nd place to Stanford at the San Diego Crew Classic and the Knecht Cup (both were top finishes for BU), the Terriers captured the Founders Cup for team points at the Boston Lightweight Invitational in mid-April, and followed that up with the program's first ever title in the Boston Lightweight Beanpot, where BU swept the eights racing against Radcliffe and MIT.
This run of success has no doubt occasioned a surge of positive emotions in BU's DeWolfe boathouse on the Charles in Boston. Of course, any coach will tell you that it can be difficult to run on emotion alone; however, this BU Lightweight team seems to be taking care of all facets of the game. "We are constantly learning, developing, and growing as a team," said Doldron. "We've made plenty of mistakes along the way, but the team has shown a high level of tenacity and grit. Our goal at Sprints is to race to our potential. If we do that, I believe every crew we field is capable of winning."
In collegiate lightweight rowing, however, there are no sure things, and as much as BU knows their competition, they will not be taking them lightly. The Harvard-Radcliffe lightweights, themselves just two years removed from capturing a national title, find themselves in the unfamiliar position of "first pursuer" as teams head to Worcester.
Under first-year head coach Sarah Schwegman, the Radcliffe lights might have surrendered their crown as the top crew in the East to BU this year, but have had the same strong results during the regular season that the program, with its long and proud history of lightweight rowing, has been accustomed to. In addition to their 3rd place in the Lightweight Invitational, and 4th place at the Knecht Cup, Radcliffe claimed wins in both of its cup competitions with Georgetown and Princeton.
Also looking to put the squeeze on to BU and Radcliffe for that top spot on the podium are the Wisconsin Badgers. Like Radcliffe, Wisconsin has a proud and storied tradition in women's lightweight rowing, and also like Radcliffe, the Badgers boast national titles in their team's recent history. New Wisconsin head coach Dusty Mattison has direct ties to that tradition, having served as novice coach for the Badgers during their last title run in 2010.
"I feel pressure to get Wisconsin back on the map, but I am really trying to keep everything in perspective and have fun," said Mattison. "It is helpful to have the past to pull from and be able to look at benchmarks to keep us on track. We know it is going to be extremely difficult to medal at Sprints and the IRA so being in those racing situations are valuable learning moments."
Head to head, the matchup between Radcliffe is intriguing, with Wisconsin owning the slight edge of a 1.5 second margin (only about three seats) over Radcliffe in the final of the Knecht Cup. A battle royale between Wisconsin and Radcliffe would be sure to put the pressure on BU to keep their bow ahead.
"We talk a lot about focusing on the controllables," said Wisconsin's Mattison. "Since we just have one trip down the course this will be a true test of that mindset. Putting this into play is our biggest goal for Sprints."
Rounding out the lightweight field at the Eastern Sprints are Princeton and Georgetown. The Tigers are fielding one of the youngest teams at the regatta and have been ramping up their team speed over the course of the season. After finishing third in San Diego behind Stanford and BU and dropping their cup race to Radcliffe, the Tigers finished off their regular season with a strong win over Georgetown.
Also never to be counted out, Georgetown will look to hold their own in the lightweight racing on Lake Quinsigamond.
The field among the EAWRC Lightweight women may be small, but the coaches don't see this as a disadvantage. "The teams tend to be more knowledgeable of each other, we know each other's racing tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses," said BU's Doldron. "The level of competition is extremely high but so is the level of respect and sportsmanship among the programs."
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