So it all comes down to one day. One race, really, as all 17 teams (MIT did not field a 1V this spring) will be going all out in the morning heats to try and secure a spot in the grand final, or even the petite final, where they will have a chance to claim one of the 9 automatic bids to the IRA.
The heats are as follows for Sunday morning:
Harvard // Syracuse // Cornell // Georgetown // Pennsylvania
Wisconsin // Brown // Navy // Columbia // Northeastern // Rutgers
Princeton // Boston // Yale // Dartmouth // Holy Cross // George Washington
My thoughts on the racing are below, click the link to read more.
In Heat 1, poor Syracuse and Cornell get to beat up on each other again. They've had a lot of great races in the past few years; Syracuse won their dual by 2.8 seconds a few weeks ago. Georgetown will be doing its best to stick with Cornell, who they raced at the GW Invite, and hope that that can give them an opportunity to potentially sneak into the grands if those sophomores have the race of their lives. Pennsylvania, of course, will be trying to stick to Georgetown, and see where that puts them with 500m to go. That should be a pretty fantastic race as there are three very legitimate crews with a chance to make the grand final, and none of the crews think they deserve to be in the 3rd level final.
In Heat 2, a lot of question marks arise. Is Brown going to put together another solid Sprints showing, despite a regular season that has not been as strong as past years? Can Navy make one more push after a very solid regular season and pull off the upset of Brown? What about Columbia, who people have suggested is on the downswing, or Northeastern, who started the year on a downswing, but is now on an upswing? I'd say its safe to say Wisco will win the heat, but after that it is anyone's guess. Northeastern will be trying to prove its speed by at the least, making it into the PF, and knocking someone (Columbia?) into the 3rd level final. Brown, Navy, and Columbia will all be racing with an opportunity to make the grand final.
In Heat 3, the Crusaders see two teams they have raced this season - Darmouth, who they lost to by 12" in the first race of the year for both teams, and GW, who HC beat at the GW Invite. As our coach once told us when we raced at Sprints, "just come out and keep firing fastballs" (it was a story about a Red Sox pitcher who only had one pitch - he sure loved those Red Sox). If the Crusaders can do that, perhaps they will be able to sneak into the PF, setting themselves up for the opportunity to earn an IRA automatic bid. That all being said, this is probably the toughest heat to be in. Dartmouth has demonstrated an incredible ability to gain large amounts of speed prior to Sprints; last year they had a similar seeding and won their heat. Yale had the Gladstone touch, and Princeton and BU have both had great regular seasons and seem to have separated themselves from everyone else. This shall be an epic heat.
We expect to have a lot of alumni and parents at the racing, so we will do our best to provide instant results via twitter or the website. There is also supposed to be live video feed, that will be shared when we know the site.
GO CROSS GO!
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