HEAVY HITTERS: Senior star Martin Barakso, third from left, helps the Princeton University men’s varsity 8 power through the water in a heat last weekend at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) national championship regatta at Mercer Lake. The Tigers went on to finish third in the Grand Final in the event, trailing champion Cal and Yale. Princeton, which took second in the second varsity 8, first in the third varsity 8 to cap an undefeated season, and second in the varsity 4, was second to Cal in the race for the Jim Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy, the team points competition, the best Tiger finish since winning the trophy in 1998. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Martin Barakso entered Princeton University in 2012 as a highly decorated rower.

A native of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Barakso had competed for Canada in the Junior World Rowing Championships in 2010 and 2011 and had been named the Canadian Junior Sculler of the Year in 2010.

But as Barakso arrived in New Jersey for his freshman campaign, he wasn’t sure how much he could contribute to the Tiger crew program.

“I had back surgery in the fall of my freshman year,” said Barakso. “I hadn’t rowed for a year before I came to Princeton. I didn’t even know if I was going to row again.”

The surgery worked and Barakso starred for the second varsity 8 in the spring of 2013, helping the boat take silver at the Eastern Sprints. He moved up to the varsity 8 as a sophomore, playing a big role as that boat has earned medals at the Sprints the last three years and a bronze at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) national championship regatta last spring.

Over the summer, he earned gold with the M8+ for Canada at the 2015 Pan-Am Games and gold for the Canada 4- at the 2014 U23 World Championships.

Last Sunday, he ended his Princeton career with another medal-winning effort, rowing in the four-seat as the Tigers took third at the IRA Grand Final on Mercer Lake behind champion Cal and runner-up Yale.

For Barasko, that performance was a fitting culmination of his time with the Tiger program.

“Every year the IRA has been our best race and this was the same thing,” said Barakso.

“The final there was the best performance we could have done and we just executed it so well. I am just so proud of everybody because we really showed what we had there.”

While Cal posted a winning time of 5:38.710 with Yale second in 5:40.700 and Princeton third in 5:41.880, Barakso felt that victory was within grasp down the stretch.

“Yale had beaten us three times before and their strategy was to get a length on you and hold it so the last three weeks we have really been working on our start and taking a big push at 500 meters into the race,” explained Barakso.

“When Cal got ahead of Yale, they became vulnerable and then we shot up on Yale a little bit there. That was the first time we have been ahead of Yale all season and it was so much fun in the boat. Everybody was just shouting ‘here we go boys, we are doing it, we are going to beat Yale.’ We were just going so hard and then Yale passed us at the end. To come third in that field, out of my four years here, that is the fastest field I have ever seen. Princeton hasn’t beaten Washington in nine years in that race so that was pretty incredible.”

With the second varsity 8 earning silver in its Grand Final and the third varsity 8 taking gold to cap an undefeated season, Princeton ended up a close second to Cal in the race for the Jim Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy, the team points competition, an achievement that reflected incredible progress for Barakso and his classmates.

“The program was struggling before we got there; we came in and all 10 of us committed to working as hard as we could to get the program better,” said the imposing Barakso, who stands 6’5 and weighs 213 pounds.

“To go from not even making finals and winning no medals at this regatta four years ago and having the 3V win, the 2V second and us get third is unbelievable. We were four points away (205-202) from winning the Ten Eyck. We have been talking about it all year, we knew this is the year we can win the Ten Eyck and we were so close to doing it. It has been the most amazing four years and this team has just grown an incredible amount since I have been here.”

In Barakso’s view, that growth has been spurred by a business-like attitude around the Princeton boathouse.

“Everybody always talks about culture; when we came in as freshmen the culture on this team was very different,” said Barakso.

“Every year as we have been getting older, we have tried to really instill in the younger guys the work ethic that we have put forward and doing the little things right all the time. You are in college and you have to be responsible if you want to do well athletically. We found a really good balance between having fun and working hard on the lake.”

Princeton’s Greg Hughes had fun watching his first varsity battle for the national title.

“That was just an epic race for them, they throttled it,” said a smiling Hughes.

“I don’t think there was anything or any trick that we had that wasn’t shown in that race. That kind of racing is just sheer guts racing and that is what you saw. When you get a scenario where schedules get changed and we are out here racing super early, you learn pretty quickly who the racers are.”

The Princeton third varsity 8 proved to be racers for the ages as they completed an undefeated campaign by winning their Grand Final, pulling away from Harvard, clocking a time of 5:54.920 with the Crimson next in 5:56.680.

“We have a lot of team depth and I think what happened on this team all through the season with the training that we were doing is that those kids really developed as performers and that shows up in a three-day event like this,” said Hughes.

“They are tough, they are consistent, and they are humble and that makes for really great rowers. The final piece is the coaching staff. I have the best co-coaches in the country and I am absolutely confident that our staff is the strongest there is. Matt Smith has coached that boat all season and he is one of the best in the sport and it shows. It is not just what he does with the boat on the water and how he prepares a boat to race, it is how he prepares them to be good athletes, good people, and good competitors.”

For Hughes, coming in second to Cal in the race for the Ten Eyck Trophy, the team points competition, the best Tiger finish since winning the trophy in 1998, was a great accomplishment.

“It says a lot about the development that we have been doing, I think that has been one of the major focuses that we have had,” said Hughes.

“At Princeton, we know that the guys we have are hard working and they are talented and our job is to continue to grow them and it is a four-year process with our athletes and that is starting to show now. It shows that the east coast programs are really doing a great job. That means a lot to me because I think it makes the sport better. The sport is really exciting when the races are hard-fought and competitive. I think for a while that the east was missing a little bit; it was a west coast show and we were just kind of happy to be there. I don’t think that is the case any more.”

The development of Princeton’s senior rowers has been an exciting aspect of the process for Hughes.

“It is hard to put into words what those guys have done,” asserted Hughes.

“They are obviously exceptionally talented athletes and oarsmen but their personality and character is just remarkable. We elect a captain but I have always felt the leadership of the team, the success of the team and the personality of the team is the senior class. Across the board, it has made a difference. There are seniors in every one of those boats and they brought leadership  to every single boat we have. They were levelheaded and composed and saw the bigger picture. We had a really big hill to climb four years ago and a lot of people would have backed away from that but they didn’t. They have created something that will be here for a long, long time.”

Barakso, for his part, relished that climb as he overcame his bad back to enjoy a brilliant college career.

“To get that back surgery and start rowing and not only get better every year athletically but as a person, you learn so much,” said Barakso, who was named as one the five finalists for the 2016 William Winston Roper Trophy, given to Princeton’s top senior male athlete, and plans to go back to Canada to compete for the U-23 program this summer and then go for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Greg and Matt, they make us fast on the water but they really teach good ethics, good principles. It is going to stay with me the rest of my life and having the opportunity to be captain this year was amazing too. It has been the best four years of my life, to put it succinctly.”