Hoyas Defeat Top-Ranked Tigers on Lake Carnegie
April 03, 2004
Georgetown's Lightweight Men traveled to Princeton, NJ this past weekend to match up against Princeton University, the defending Eastern Sprints Varsity Champions, on their home course of Lake Carnegie. Columbia University, last year's Silver Medalists at the IRA National Championships, also made the trip down from New York to race. Conditions were excellent, if mildly cool, with a slight headwind for the races and otherwise glassy smooth water and temperatures in the mid-forties.
The first race to go off was the freshman eights, where the Hoyas boated both their first and second freshman eights. The freshman boats met with stiff competition from both Princeton and Columbia, and finished fourth and fifth. Princeton and Columbia had been noted for their speedy freshman crews in the fall, and proved to be a harsh introduction to Sprints level racing for the freshman. However, there is little doubt among the freshman that Saturday proved a valuable learning experience. The line-up, from bow to stern, of the 1F was Andrew Harried (C '07), Ralph Crowley (B '07), Connor Schillerstrom (F '07), Patrick Sheridan (C '07), John McGroarty (C '07), Michael Dorff (C '07), Michael McGrath (F '07), James Curley (B '07), and coxswain Christopher Moore (B '07) and of the 2F was Pierre Maitre (B '07), Paul Elliot (C '07), Nate Ro (B '07), Jonathon Olbrych (N '07), Dominik Peisl (B '07), Matt Kamenski (C '07), Tom Byrnes (B '07), Brendan Sullivan (C '07), Michael Manuccia (C '07).
Georgetown met with better success in the Second Varsity race, where the Hoyas finished second, well ahead of third place Columbia. This race was widely regarded as a good stepping stone for the 2V, with the sentiment that it demonstrated a marked increase from their performance at the Jesuit Invitational being widely echoed. The challenge for this crew will now be to build on their past two races and continue the trend of large strides in speed. From bow to stern, the line-up of the 2V was Dave Hansen (B '06), Chris Fawal (C '06), Jan Halaska (C '06), Will Sheridan (C '04), Tony Leotti (C '04), Leeds Nudd (C '06), Kyle Hatton (C '05), John Fenwick (B '05), and coxswain Nick Marinakis (F '06).
The marquee event gave both Columbia and Georgetown a chance to challenge Princeton University's Varsity Eight, which is tied for first with Harvard University (the defending IRA National Champions) in the USRowing pre-season poll. The Hoyas drew the outside lane, with the Princeton Tigers in the middle lane, and the Columbia Lions in the near lane. When the flag dropped to start the race, Columbia and Princeton both lunged out to fast starts while Georgetown struggled with a sluggish start that left them about half a length down on both other crews. However, after their high strokes, the Hoyas settled to a devastating base rhythm that quickly allowed them to pull even with Columbia, who fell off the pace near the 400m in mark. Meanwhile, the Tigers continued to attack with a flurry of high strokes, attempting to bury the Hoyas in the hole that their poor start had left them in. Georgetown refused to die though, even as Princeton pulled out to nearly a bow-to-stern lead by the 600m in mark. Shortly before the mid-point of the race, coxswain Louisa Seferis (F '05), recognizing that Georgetown's base speed was actually slightly faster than that of Princeton, began to rally her troop. The boat responded together and started to make a definitive change in the tone of the race, pulling even with Princeton with approximately a third of the race remaining. The Hoyas never looked back and continued to walk away from Princeton all the way to the line, roughly matching their two and a half second margin of victory from their 2003 match-up against Princeton (although the level of drama in this year's edition was substantially higher). Sophomore Jack Pfeiffer (C '06), on winning his first Sprints League varsity race, said "It was a great race, and to come away with the win is an awesome feeling, but we have to look towards our race with Navy in two weeks and make sure that we keep improving". After the race, first-year coach Andy Belden commented on the Hoyas' composure; "The guys just showed great execution today; they had a plan and they stuck too it, no matter what they were up against". The line-up, from bow to stern, of the Varsity was Jack Pfeiffer (C '06), Geoff Mikelsons (B '04), Blair Berbert (B '05), Kyler Willet (C '06), Brad Kuntsher (C '05), Andrew Lechleiter (C '04), James O'Gara (B '05), Cameron Booth (C '05), and coxswain Lousia Seferis (F '05). This race marked the reuniting of last year's successful stern pair for the first time this year, which immediately rewarded the boat with a return to last year's very memorable rhythm.
Georgetown now faces another two weeks of training before their next challenge, against Navy on the Severn River in Annapolis, MD. Navy should prove to be an extremely formidable foe, having established themselves as a crew to beat after posting a convincing win over Princeton last weekend. As another point of interest, Georgetown will rematch Princeton again in three weeks time, when they are joined by the University of Pennsylvania for another race on Lake Carnegie.
