SHINING LIGHT: Robin Prendes competes for the U.S. lightweight men’s four in recent action. Former Princeton University standout Prendes ’11 and another former Tiger, Tyler Nase ’13, helped the U.S. take fourth in the semifinals of its competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics on August 9. Prendes and Nase will compete in the B final on August 11. A victory in that final would give the U.S. lightweight four boat its best Olympic finish since 2000; with Prendes aboard, the boat took eighth overall at the 2012 Summer Olympics. (Photo Courtesy of USRowing)

As the competition heated up on the first full day of action at the 2016 Summer Olympics last Saturday, Princeton University athletes rose to the occasion. 

In the water, Gevvie Stone ’07 won her heat in the women’s single sculls, deftly handling a choppy race course. Drawing on her years of training on the Charles River in Boston, Stone jumped out to a big lead and then held off two hard charging opponents to secure the win. Stone clocked a time of 8:29.67 over the 2,000-meter course with Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark second in 8:30.07, and Lina Saltyte of Lithuania taking third in 8:35.932.

On Tuesday, Stone won her quarterfinal heat to book a spot in the semis, which are slated for August 11 with the finals one day later. Stone clocked a time of 7:27.04 to win the race by more than two seconds over Jannine Gmemlin of Switzerland (7:29.66).

Tyler Nase ’13 and Robin Prendes ’11 helped the men’s lightweight four place second in their heat on Saturday, trailing only strong medal contender New Zealand, to advance to the semifinal. Three days later, the boat took fourth in its semifinal heat to miss a spot in the six-boat grand final by one place. The pair will now compete in the B final on August 11. A victory in that final would give the U.S. lightweight four boat its best Olympic finish since 2000; with Prendes aboard, the boat took eighth overall at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

A third former Princeton men’s standout, Glenn Ochal ’08, who picked up a bronze medal in the M4- at the 2012 London Games, competed for the men’s eight on Monday. The U.S. fell to Germany in its heat by just under two seconds, coming in at 5:40.16 with the Germans winning in 5:38.22.  The Americans will now race on August 10 in a five-boat repechage (second chance) race to determine the final four qualifiers for the Olympic final.

Kate Bertko ’06, competed in the women’s lightweight double sculls heat with Devery Karz on Monday but fell one spot short of advancing directly to the semifinals as the pair took third behind winner China and runner-up Denmark. In the repechage races on Tuesday, Bertko and Karz placed first to earn a berth in the semifinals on August 10. The pair clocked a time of 7:58.90 in winning the race with Japan next in 8:00.90.

Another former Tiger women’s star, Lauren Wilkinson ’11, who stroked the Canadian women’s eight to a silver medal at the 2012 London Games, was back in the Canadian W8+ for Monday’s opening heats. Canada took third behind winner Great Britain and runner-up New Zealand.

Great Britain joined the U.S. eight, which rolled to a win in the opening heat, to advance to the final. Canada will now join four other boats in a repechage race on August 10. The top four will also advance to the grand final on August 13.

Over at field hockey, Katie Reinprecht ’13 fired the opening salvo for the U.S. against Argentina in its opener on Saturday, scoring a third quarter goal to give it a 1-0 lead. The U.S. squad added another tally and held off Argentina to win a 2-1 nail-biter over the second-ranked team in the world. Fellow Princeton alums, Julia Reinprecht ’14 and Kat Sharkey ’13, also played well in the victory.

Two days later, the U.S. came up with another dramatic win, edging third-ranked Australia 2-1. The fifth-ranked Americans got a penalty-corner goal from Michelle Vitesse in the 25th minute and a Caitlin Van Sickle goal, with the U.S. up a player, in the 41st minute. The 2-0 lead, though, didn’t last long as the Australians, despite being down two players at that point, scored two minutes later to cut the deficit to 2-1. The U.S. held off the potential Australian equalizer the rest of the way to win by that 2-1 margin.

The U.S. has three more group-stage games, and none against higher-ranked teams. A matchup with 10th-ranked Japan is first on August 10 followed by a game against 13th-ranked India on August 11 and finally a matchup with seventh-ranked Great Britain on August 13. The top four teams in each of the two six-team groups will advance to the knockout stage, which will begin on August 15.

In the pool, women’s water polo goalie Ashleigh Johnson ’17 helped the U.S. cruise to an 11-4 win over Spain on Tuesday in its opening game of Group B play. Johnson made 11 saves in the victory. The U.S. is next in action when it plays China on August 11.

In women’s soccer, which got underway last Wednesday two days before the opening ceremony, Diana Matheson ’08 helped Canada get off to a good start in preliminary round action. Matheson started in the midfield and played 69 minutes as Canada topped Australia 2-0 in the opener.

On Saturday, Matheson started and played the first 63 minutes for Canada in a 3-1 win over Zimbabwe that saw the Canadians get all three of their goals by the 35th minute and Zimbabwe add one in the 86th. Matheson drew a penalty kick when Zimbabwe goalkeeper Chido Dzingirai collided with her in the 18-yard box, setting up Christine Sinclair to knock in the PK.

The win, coupled with Germany and Australia playing to a draw, allowed Canada to advance to the quarterfinals of the knockout round, which will begin on August 12.