PRINCETON – The Princeton Men’s Heavyweight Rowing Team’s varsity eight boat was named the Rusty Callow Award winner, the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) has announced.
The varsity eight had five All-Americans on its boat that earned a bronze medal at the IRA National Championships.
The first varsity was fourth at the 500m in the Grand Final, tightly bunched with Washington and Yale with California out front. The Tigers remained in fourth at the 1,000m, behind Yale by almost a second for a medal.
Princeton did not let up.
Over the next 500m, the Tigers ripped off a 1:22.7 split, 1.6 seconds quicker than Yale to move into third place. The boat outpaced Yale in the final 500m, earning a bronze medal (5:34.88) behind California (5:31.71) and Washington (5:32.96).
The Tigers’ last 1V medal was also a bronze in 2016. The third-place finish is six spots higher than last year and five spots better than 2021.
Rusty Callow was a legendary rowing coach, whose career spanned the first half of the 20th century. Rusty coached for many years at Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, and Navy. Among his many accomplishments, Callow coached the 1952 Navy crew to an Olympic gold medal.
The Rusty Callow Award is presented each year by the EARC to the crew that, in the previous year, best personified the virtues of “spirit, courage and unity.” Awarded annually since 1963, the winner of the award is determined by a vote of the head coaches of the EARC.