Nov. 7, 2008
Princeton, N.J. - The Georgetown University crew finished their fall head racing season with a solid showing at The Annual Princeton 3-Mile Chase. The Hoyas' varsity heavyweight crew turned in a strong showing, finishing 17th out of 40 in the eights with the fours finishing 23rd of 47. The varsity lightweight eights finished fourth, improving ten spots from a year ago.
"While the Head of the Charles is considered the granddaddy of all head races, The Princeton Chase is often considered a better measure of a crew's speed because the course is simpler to steer," varsity lightweight head coach Evans Liolin said. "The Chase also affords competitors the opportunity to race in multiple events."
The Chase was a great fall test for the Hoya heavyweights, affording the oarsmen an opportunity to test themselves against some very strong teams. The Georgetown heavyweights raced well focusing their energies on the eight, finishing 17th in a deep field of forty crews, and 23rd out of 47 in the four. The varsity eight finished a tight 2/10ths of a second behind Potomac rival, George Washington University.
The Hoya heavyweight varsity consisted of coxswain Jack Carlson, Stroke Andrew Federer, Paul Keith, Spencer Almy, Joe Ledvina, Brian Gallagher, Chuck Hartwig, Max Mickiewicz and Bryan Chismar.
"On average the heavyweight men turned in solid performances at the Princeton Chase. Clearly, however, the squad has much to work on throughout the remainder of the fall and winter to prepare for 2K racing in the spring. While the eights have significant room for improvement, there is certainly ground to be made through inter-squad competition given the depth of this year's team," said senior co-captain Grant Morrow (Sewickley, Pa./Lawrenceville). "The fours racing was fast and exciting. The Georgetown B four had a strong race despite a boat stopping collision with Yale. After the clash the crew redoubled its efforts to pull through Temple and Dartmouth and hold off Princeton with strong finishing speed."
"Though we weren't thrilled with the results today, both the Chase and the Charles have provided us with a good sense of what will be required of each of us going into the winter season," said senior co-captain Jack Carlson (Weston, Mass./BB&N). We'll be keeping a resolute focus on our 2k races in the spring, especially the championship regattas. For us, every workout from here on out is money in the bank; and we'll come to collect in March, April, May and June."
The Georgetown Lightweights found more speed this week, besting their Head of the Charles performance, pushing ahead of Cornell and closing the gap on the top of the league. The Varsity Eight finished 4th, improving ten spots from their 14th place finish a year ago. The Hoya JV finished 6th, up from 29th a year ago and only 1.4 seconds behind Cornell and Harvard.
The junior varsity lightweights raced a second time in the fours race and the varsity eight broke down to compete in a small boats event that saw almost 50 entries from heavyweight, lightweight and women's teams. The top Georgetown pair of Brendan McEwan (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan HS) and Tim Carey (Fairview Park, OH/Saint Ignatius) finished fourth overall, second among collegiate crews.
The lightweight freshmen made their racing debut, facing their Eastern Sprints counterparts for the first time. An experienced Harvard "A" crew won the freshman race, while the Georgetown "A" crew raced to an admirable 5th and the "B" crew finished 1st among all B boats. To determine the overall strength of a freshman squad, the crews are also ranked with a composite time. The Frosh Lights' composite time won their event ahead of second-place Harvard. "[The freshmen] are training with a passion that reveals the intensity of their desire to win, and I have never coached a more dedicated group of athletes." said freshman lightweight coach Morgan Henderson.
The Princeton Chase was the first opportunity for our entire squad to race together," said senior lightweight co-captain John Connolly (Lafayette Hill, PA, St. Joe's Prep) "I was very happy with the effort put forth by all of our crews and think that we are in a good position heading into winter training."
The JV Heavyweight Crew included coxswain Victoria Stulgis, Stroke Grant Morrow, Ben Coyne, Tom Skomba, Sam Bourneuf, Tom Carroll, Collin Eckles, Peter Holowesko and Jaesung Lee.
The top heavyweight four entered as Georgetown "B" included Victoria Stulgis, Stroke Grant Morrow, Ben Coyne, Tom Carroll and Jaesung Lee.
