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Princeton Lightweights Repeat as IRA Champions
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Results
Portions courtesy of Princeton Athletic Communications
CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Led by Princeton’s men's lightweight crew second-straight national championship, the Ivy League had another strong showing at the 2010 IRA Championships on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J.
The Tiger lightweights completed a perfect postseason and repeated as IRA national champion in style on a blistering-fast Cooper River race course. Princeton set a course record to hold off a hard-charging Navy boat to win the final race of the 2010 season.
Not only did the victory extend the lightweights' dominance to two years, but it also extended an amazing streak at Princeton. The victory was the first national championship — team or individual — of the academic year; Princeton has now won at least one national title in each of the last 24 years.
After surging past Harvard to win the 2010 EARC/Ivy League title three weeks ago, Princeton entered the grand final as the favorite. Princeton won the IRA national title in a course-record time of 5:36.07, while Navy used a late sprint to move past Harvard for second place. The Midshipmen finished second in 5:37.06, while Harvard finished third in 5:38.02. Yale, Georgetown, Dartmouth and Penn rounded out the rest of the field in the grand final.
Cornell, Harvard and Brown finished in the top six in both the first and second varsity eight grand finals. Cornell was the Ivy boast across the line the varsity eight grand final, placing third ahead of Harvard in fourth and Brown in fifth. The second varsity eight final saw Brown earn the silver medal with Harvard third and Cornell fifth.
In the team competition, Princeton claimed the trophy for most improved performance by a team from the previous year, just ahead of Cornell. The Big Red was the top Ivy crew in the race for the Ten Eyck Award for the team title, finishing third with 167 points behind Washington (193 points) and California (180 points). Harvard was fourth with 165 points followed by Brown in fifth (154 points), Princeton in eighth (116), Dartmouth in 12th (79), Yale in 13th (76) and Penn in 16th (42).
