SHINING LIGHTS: The Princeton University men’s lightweight -varsity 8 crew displays its form in a race earlier this spring. Last weekend, the second-ranked Tigers defeated Penn and Georgetown to win the Wood-Hammond Cup, improving to 7-1. On April 30, Princeton will host No. 1 Yale and fifth-ranked Harvard on Lake Carnegie in the annual HYP regatta. (Photo Courtesy of Princeton Crew)

Starting April with its first clash against a top-five boat, the Princeton University men’s lightweight varsity eight came up short, falling to third-ranked Columbia.

While Princeton head coach Marty Crotty wasn’t happy with defeat, he knew it was just one step in a process.

“It was a wake-up call, we are not there yet, said Crotty, reflecting on the April 2 regatta at Teaneck, N.J. which saw Princeton lose by six seconds to the Lions.

“There was nothing implosive. It wasn’t flush everything down the drain and start over; it was just like we have got to focus more. We have got to decide how we are going to go after this thing and get down to business. We have got six weeks to sprints and let’s just do it.”

Two weeks later, Princeton took care of business, utilizing a blazing start as it stunned No. 1 and two-time defending national champion Cornell to win the Platt Cup for the first time since 2011.

“I knew they were focusing more and I knew they had gotten better,” said Crotty, whose top boat clocked a time of 6:03.7 over the 2,000-meter course on Lake Carnegie with Cornell coming in at 6:07.4 as the Big Red saw its 18-race winning streak snapped.

“They were ready from the first stroke. They were on it from the first stroke; they were rowing together in contrast to a week or two before, when they were still sort of jelling as a crew. We might have caught them by surprise. We capitalized on a hot start and we stayed on top of them basically. It is a lot easier for the guys to be confident that we are on the right trajectory after a win than it is after a loss.”

Showing no complacency, the Tigers kept rolling last Saturday as they topped Penn and Georgetown to earn the Wood-Hammond Trophy, improving to 7-1 on the season.

“Penn has seen a revitalization and Georgetown is somebody we see a lot so you never take anything for granted ever,” said Crotty, whose varsity 8 came in at 6:24.3 with Penn next 6:35.7 and Georgetown placing third in 6:53.7.

“The unique part about this race last weekend was that we had another great week of preparation and then we came around the corner on Saturday and there was a 20 mph headwind. It was a direct headwind so there was plenty of chop and plenty of condition. You prepare and you prepare and you feel good about your crew and a 20-mile an hour headwind will make a disaster out of anybody. It is never pretty in a 20-mph headwind with gusts. I just had to look at the tape a couple of times to know they were on point. The way they handled that wind reflects how they were preparing through the week.”

Blessed with terrific depth, Crotty has been faced with tricky lineup decisions every week.

“The competition has allowed me to confidently make changes and it is not necessarily to see if this guy is better than that guy; there are a lot of guys that are close but maybe one can row, to my eye, a certain seat better,” said Crotty.

“Maybe if this guy rows this seat better, it allows these other four guys in seats they are better suited for. So lot of the stuff I have been doing it is not that the boat goes faster right away but it is going to allow the boat to develop into a faster one over the next couple of weeks. It is a subtle selection thing. There are only eight varsity seats and I think we have 12 or 13 guys who could potentially fill those seats.”

Senior captain Isaiah Brown has been caught in the middle of the selection process and has shown his leadership by rolling with the punches.

“A good example of it is just having the poise and maturity to deal with a lot of that circulation in the lineups; Isaiah is a guy who has been moved around a lot this year and I think he has handled it the way I would want it to be handled,” said Crotty.

“He has been in the varsity, he has been in the JV. He has been in the 4 seat, the 5 seat, and the 6 seat. Two weeks ago with Cornell race, he was in the boat, he was out of the boat and then he was in the boat. We are talking Thursday night, we are dealing some injured guys and some guys that were getting ill and we kept a couple of guys out and Isaiah got back in the varsity. He just handled himself so well in that Cornell race. I think the other seven guys really rallied around him. For Isaiah to get a Cornell win on his tally was pretty awesome to see. He was the first guy I walked onto the dock and just gave him a big hug.”

Second-ranked Princeton is ending April with a battle against two more top 5 foes this Saturday as it hosts No. 1 Yale and fifth-ranked Harvard on Lake Carnegie in the annual HYP regatta.

“I personally don’t have to motivate or talk about it or refer to Harvard or refer to Yale,” said Crotty.

“If anything you could err on the side of getting the guys too jacked up so they do something outside of what they have already rehearsed and practiced a million times. They know the rankings, they know the results. They know in general what to expect from each boat class. The 1V knows what Yale has been doing, what Harvard has been doing and so on. You have just got to row with with what you have got and row with all of the attitude and swagger in the world. But you can’t go out and try to row above yourself and expect a great result. I think you do the best with what we have got and then continue on to the sprints two weeks from now.”