COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY The lightweight crew team survived a strenuous weekend, defeating Columbia, Pennsylvania, Cornell, and Georgetown and remaining at No. 1 in the EARC lightweight men's coaches poll.

Lightweights survive difficult doubleheader

After five minutes and 45 seconds of rowing, it all came down to just three-tenths of a second last weekend in New York. In fact, two seats were all that separated Yale's lightweight varsity eight and Columbia's as they passed the finish line. If this wasn't excitement enough, the race came under protest, as Pennsylvania, which finished third, claimed an obstruction in its lane caused the boat to change course. Luckily for Yale, the protest was to no avail and the result stood. Yale finished first with a time of 5:45:0, Columbia second in 5:45:3 and Penn third. Earlier in the day, the junior varsity won yet another close race, while the freshmen eight also picked up a win.

Following the close and controversial race in New York, the team jumped on the bus and headed for Ithaca, N.Y. for their second race of the weekend. Against Cornell and Georgetown, all boats were again successful, each coming away with a win to complete their strenuous weekend. This doubleheader weekend was the season's first real test for the team. "This weekend was a really long road trip," coxswain Stephen Cheng, JE '01, said. "It was a good experience for the team to focus and race some strong opponents." Acknowledging the difficulty of the weekend, the team is pleased with the 6-0 outcome, but they realize that Saturday's racing was a little too close for comfort. "The Columbia race was a barn-burner the whole way, and we definitely have to give them credit for rowing a strong piece," Cheng said. "We're going to have to keep working harder each week for when we meet them again at [Eastern] Sprints."

Lightweight

Recent Results: Varsity, second varsity, third varsity, first freshmen, second freshmen won at Pennsylvania-Columbia; Varsity, second varsity, first freshmen won at Cornell-Georgetown.

By preserving their undefeated season, the Bulldogs were able to hold on to the No. 1 ranking in the country. However, on Sat., Apr. 22, they meet what may be their toughest opponent of the season thus far. The team will travel to Rutgers to take on the Scarlet Knights and the Big Green from Dartmouth. The Knights are tied with Yale at the top of the EARC lightweight men's coaches poll and third in the U.S. Rowing poll. While the Bulldogs are pleased with their ranking, the team knows that the only measure of success is on the water, and this weekend may be their best chance thus far to measure the extent of that success. These two teams will be among the most difficult that Yale has faced this season. Explaining the team's focus approaching the weekend, Wesley Ng, JE '02, said, "We know that every team that we race is fast and has the potential to win. We don't pay attention to the rankings."

If the Bulldogs are to remain undefeated, they will have to continue to build their speed. The race against Columbia showed the squad that they can take very little for granted as they head into the most difficult part of their schedule."We really want to get faster every day," Ng said."It's vital that we just go out and work hard and get better."

With the league championships a month away, each and every team will be training harder, and Yale must do the same. While victories during the regular season are nice, it is a constant increase in speed that will bring success at Eastern Sprints, where it really counts. The team has been trying to build on the experience gained at Columbia and hopes to prove itself in a tough race this weekend.

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