SU Men And Women Perform Well At The Princeton Chase

Sunday, October 30

Princeton, N.J.

All Day

Syracuse University

Princeton Chase

Both of Syracuse's men's eights finished in the top 12 at the Princeton Chase.

SU Men And Women Perform Well At The Princeton Chase

10/30/2011 8:55:09 PM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing

Results | Men's Lineups | Women's Lineups

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Orange men's and women's rowing teams continued their fall seasons Sunday, Oct. 30 at the Princeton Chase on Lake Carnegie. The men recorded three top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place showing in the heavyweight fours race. The women placed two boats in the top 10 of the varsity open fours event, while the women's varsity eight just missed a top-10 showing, finishing in 11th place.

The Princeton Chase is an invitational head race hosted by the Princeton University crew coaching staff for men's and women's crews (including freshman/novice). Sunday's regatta featured nine events, including men's heavyweight and lightweight eights, women's varsity and open eights, fours and small-boat races. The events were contested over a distance of two and three-quarter miles.

The SU men's varsity eight crews placed sixth and 12th with times of 13:26.73 and 13:48.10, respectively. A total of 33 boats entered the race, which was won by Princeton. The Tigers clocked a winning time of 13:09.23. Cornell (13:16.7) was second and Navy (13:18.82) finished third.

In the men's fours race, the second varsity boat posted SU's highest finish of the day. Competing against 40 other crews, the Orange's second four took fifth with a time of 14:58.75. Cornell (14:23.35) won the event, followed by Princeton (14:44.32) and Boston University (14:55.19). Not far behind was SU's first varsity four, which crossed the finish line seventh with a mark of 15:09.36. The Orange's third varsity four (15:42.83) was 18th and the fourth varsity four (16:02.82) rounded out the Syracuse entries, finishing 26th.

“I thought in the eights we made some good progress,” men's head coach Dave Reischman said. “Cornell was a boat we had our eye on. They were 20 seconds ahead of us last week and only 10 this week, so that was good. To be ready for the spring we still have work to do, but the crews we will be competing against are within our sights.”

Reischman also believes that SU's performance in the fours is a good starting point.

“The fours are always interesting,” Reischman said. “Today was our first fours race. Over the next couple of weeks we'll continue to tweak our fastest lineups to create some separation between those groups.”

On the women's side, Syracuse's eights came in 11th and 24th out of 49 crews. The Orange's top eight crossed the finish line in 15:33.70. It's second eight posted a time of 16:14.92. Virginia (14:35.17) won the race with Princeton (14:43.62) and Yale (14:53.50) coming in second and third.

The Orange's first varsity four was seventh out of 30 crews in the women's varsity open fours race, clocking a time of 17:32.73. SU's second varsity four (17:45.21) was 10th and its third varsity four (18:16.02) placed 16th. Princeton won the event with a time of 16:52.65. Cornell (17:12.31) and Dartmouth (17:22.45) were second and third, respectively.

For women's head coach Justin Moore, the results and times confirmed the Orange is on the right path to becoming one of the fastest crews in the country.

“We certainly weren't mistake free today,” Moore said. “But if you look at where we were a year ago to where we are now the hard work is starting to pay off. We finished ahead of Brown (the defending national champion) in the eights. We started a little bit in the back of the field based on how we did last year, but we were passing teams, moving up and missed a top-10 finish by one second.

“The second eight is a young boat. We anticipate getting stronger there. The fours finished about where I thought they would be based on training. They were competitive with the teams on our radar.

“Overall, to be on the other side of some of these crews that beat us last year is certainly encouraging. We are most certainly headed in the right direction and I hope the team is inspired by the results they had today.”

The SU men and women return to the water next weekend for their only home appearance of the fall season. The Orange will host the annual Syracuse Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the James Ten Eyck Boathouse located on the Onondaga Lake Outlet in Longbranch Park.