The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
No. 4 Princeton, No. 16 Rutgers
No. 1 Rowing preview: No. 4 Princeton and No. 16 Rutgers
04.22.2022 | Rowing
Texas travels to New Jersey to square off with Princeton and Rutgers.
No. 1 Rowing preview: No. 4 Princeton and No. 16 Rutgers
Texas travels to New Jersey to square off with Princeton and Rutgers.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 1 Texas Rowing heads to New Jersey to face No. 4 Princeton and No. 16 Rutgers for the final road competition of the regular season. The teams will compete head-to-head in four events over a 2,000-meter race at Lake Carnegie, racing in the first and second eight boats and the first and second four boats.
This weekend's race will mark the Longhorns' fifth competition on Lake Carnegie and the first since 2019. Last time, the Longhorns First Eight placed third to Princeton and Yale, while Texas collected victories in the Second Eight, First Four and Second Four boats.
When: Saturday, April 23
Where: Lake Carnegie, Princeton, N.J.
Live Stream: ESPN+
Results: Results will be available on Twitter at @TexasRowing.
Schedule
Saturday, April 23
8:20 a.m. CT (9:20 a.m. ET) – Second Eight
8:40 a.m. CT (9:40 a.m. ET) – First Eight
9:00 a.m. CT (10:00 a.m. ET) – First Four
9:20 a.m. CT (10:20 a.m. ET) – Second Four
A Look at the Tigers
Princeton heads into this weekend's competition with three First Eight victories over teams currently in the top seven on the Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll: No. 7 Brown, No. 6 Ohio State and No. 3 Yale. The Princeton I Eight is undefeated this season. Last weekend, Princeton claimed the victory in the First Varsity Eight over No. 3 Yale, securing the Eisenberg Cup for the 12th consecutive season. It marked the Tigers' only event victory over the Bulldogs, who claimed wins in the Second Eight and First and Second Four.
A Look at the Scarlett Knights
No. 16 Rutgers arrives in Princeton fresh off six second-place results over seven races at the second annual Big Ten Invitational at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.
Last Time Out
Texas had three boats claim victories against No. 6 Michigan on Saturday, April 9 at Belleville Lake in Michigan. Racing in cold conditions with an increasing tailwind throughout the races, the Longhorns won three of four events to top the Wolverines in Michigan for the second-straight year. The crews competed with a direct tailwind of approximately 10 mph that created rough water over the second half of the 2,000-meter races. Texas collected wins from the First Eight, Second Eight and Four, with all three boats remaining unbeaten this season.
Conference Honors
The First Varsity Eight earned UT's second Big 12 Boat of the Week honor of the season following a standout victory over No. 6 Michigan, winning by over seven seconds on at Belleville Lake, Michigan, with a time of 6:09.80.
Texas and Michigan's First Eight's traded the lead in the first 500m, with the Longhorns holding a half a second advantage a quarter of the way through the race. The Longhorns then started to move and held a length lead at halfway, increasing the margin to the finish despite a direct tailwind of approximately 10 mph that created rough water over the second half of the race.
The Texas First Eight featured junior coxswain Rachel Rane, as well as senior Kaitlin Knifton, senior Susanna Temming, senior Etta Carpender, sophomore Anna Jensen, senior Aspa Christodoulidis, sophomore Grace Holland, junior Sophia Calabrese and graduate student Lisa Gutfleisch.
Prior to that, the Third Varsity Eight earned a share of the Big 12 Boat of the Week honors, splitting votes with Tennessee's First Eight to collect the program's first weekly conference award of the season following a dominant weekend at the San Diego Crew Classic.
The Texas 3V8 won the Carley Copley Cup on Sunday at the San Diego Crew Classic. Featuring four freshmen racing in the prestigious San Diego event for the first time, UT won both its preliminary heat race and the championship final. During the final, the Longhorns were dead-even with California at the 600-meter mark when they caught a boat stopping crab (when a rower loses control of their oar). The crew fought back to win by open water with a time of 6:49.724, 5.345 seconds ahead of the Golden Bears. During their heat race the previous afternoon, the Longhorns won in impressive fashion, registering a time of 6:41.124 and defeating California by 6.863 seconds.
Texas' III Eight featured sophomore coxswain Elizabeth Romero, along with junior Jane McGee, junior Rachel Craycroft, freshman Taryn Kooyers, freshman Andrijana Mijailovic, freshman Harriet Wallace, freshman Nadja Yaroschuk, senior Susanna Cassidy and junior Grace Edgar.
A Look at the Longhorns
The defending national champion and six-time defending Big 12 Conference champion Longhorns return four student-athletes who earned CRCA All-American recognition following last year's title run. Rowers Aspa Christodoulidis, Kaitlin Knifton, Francesca Raggi and coxswain Rachel Rane lead the way for Texas, as well as 2021 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Anna Jensen. All five were integral members of the Texas First Varsity Eight that powered past Stanford and Washington over the final 750 meters of the Grand Final to capture the first title in program history.
All told, 15 of the 20 rowers and all three coxswains who competed in the 2021 National Championship regatta are back in the fold.
Also returning from last year's champion First Eight boat are Lisa Gutfleisch and Susanna Temming, while returners from the Second Eight crew will be rowers Katelyn Bouthillette, Amber Harwood, Parker Illingworth, Hannah Medcalf, and Samantha Schalk and coxswain Elizabeth Romero. Back from the Four is coxswain Olivia Fogarty and rowers Marlowe Eldridge, Cassandre Korvink-Kucinski and Lanie Nitsch.
Longhorns Start Fast
In their first competition of the season, the Longhorns traveled to Dallas for a two-day contest against the then 13th-ranked SMU Mustangs at White Rock Lake. Texas swept all six races, with the First Eight, Second Eight and Four claiming victories on each day of the trip. For the First Eight, the two victories extended the unbeaten streak for the boat to 10-straight races. The Second Eight was dominant in both of their races, taking charge from the start of each and extending their lead throughout. Texas' Four got out fast in their first race and won by 14.49 seconds, then overcame an early deficit on the second day and eventually pulled away for a win by 18.8 seconds.
Two weeks later, Texas swept through the prestigious San Diego Crew Classic on March 26-27 on the Fiesta Bay-Crown Point Shores of Mission Bay Park. Racing against many of the top-ranked programs in the country, including Pac-12 powerhouses No. 3 Washington, No. 9 California and No. 16 USC, the Longhorns remained unbeaten through the first two competitions of the season after winning both the heats and finals races of the Collegiate Varsity Jessop-Whittier Cup Invitational (First Eight), Collegiate 2V Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy (Second Eight), Collegiate Varsity 4+ Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup (First Four), and Women's Open 8+ (Third Eight).
Texas in the Polls
The Longhorns opened the season as No. 1 in the 2022 Preseason Pocock Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Women's Rowing Poll and have maintained the position throughout the season. Texas claimed 24 of the 25 first-place votes in this week's ranking and has held the top spot for nine consecutive polls. Stanford collected the other first-place votes and is second on this week's poll, while Yale is number three. Princeton and Brown round out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll Division I Rankings – Week 6 (April 20)
1. TEXAS (24)
2. Stanford (1)
3. Yale
4. Princeton
5. Brown
6. Michigan
7. California
8. Ohio State
9. Penn
10. Washington
11. Duke
12. USC
13. Virginia
14. Oregon State
15. Syracuse
16. Rutgers
17. SMU
18. Indiana
19. Tennessee
20. Washington State
Championship Pedigree
Texas has registered top-eight results in each of the last six NCAA Championship Regattas with program-best results in five, including each of the last four:
2021 – 1st
2020 – No regatta
2019 – 2nd
2018 – 3rd
2017 – 4th
2016 – 8th
2015 – 7th
Defending Conference Champions
Texas enters 2022 as the six-time defending Big 12 Conference Champions. In all, Texas has won 10 of the 12 Big 12 Conference Championships held, placing runner-up in 2013 and fourth in 2014.
Players Mentioned
