Courtesy: Princeton Crew/Tom Nowak Princeton earned bronze at the 2012 EARC Championships.

The Princeton lightweights placed five boats in grand finals, earned medals in both the varsity eight and freshman eight finals and took second in the Jope Cup team race to complete a strong Sunday at the 2012 EARC Championships.

Princeton avenged three of its four regular season losses in the varsity eight grand final, and that would be enough to get Princeton on the medal stand. Top-seeded Harvard won gold (6:22.51) by more than two seconds over second-seeded Dartmouth (6:24.69), but Princeton made a real push at silver and ended up cruising to bronze in 6:25.54.

Among the three teams that Princeton defeated in the grand final was Georgetown (fifth) and Cornell (sixth). The Tigers lost twice to the Hoyas and once to the Big Red during the year, but their consistent improvements drove the boat to a medal-stand finish.

The freshman eight also did some avenging in earning silver. Yale won the title in 6:20.33, but Princeton reversed a result from two weeks ago and topped Harvard by 1.3 seconds to place second (6:24.92).

The Princeton second varsity placed fifth in 6:20.79, the third varsity eight took sixth in 7:03.11, and the second freshman took third in 6:38.35.

While Princeton may not have rowed home with gold, the consistent team performance left the Tigers tied with Harvard for second in the Jope Cup team race. Yale won the event with 34 points, while both Princeton and Harvard scored 29 points.

These programs will resume competition in three weeks when they head to Cooper River for the 2012 IRA National Championships.

Varsity Eight
1) Harvard 6:22.51
2) Dartmouth 6:24.69
3) Princeton 6:25.54
4) Yale 6:30.21
5) Georgetown 6:33.28
6) Cornell 6:36.81

Second Varsity Eight
1) Yale 6:09.62
2) Cornell 6:11.60
3) Columbia 6:13.81
4) Navy 6:16.12
5) Princeton 6:20.79
6) Dartmouth 6:24.30

Freshman Eight
1) Yale 6:20.33
2) Princeton 6:24.92
3) Harvard 6:26.22
4) Cornell 6:32.95
5) Navy 6:33.81
6) Dartmouth 6:39.79

Third Varsity Eight
1) Cornell 6:33.21
2) Harvard 6:42.32
3) Navy 6:47.35
4) Dartmouth 6:50.10
5) Yale 6:58.43
6) Princeton 7:03.11

Second Freshman Eight
1) Harvard 6:33.41
2) Navy 6:36.73
3) Princeton 6:38.35
4) MIT 6:57.41
5) Dartmouth 6:58.68