Courtesy: Princeton Athletic CommunicationsAndreanne Morin '06 was part of the historic 2006 Princeton first varsity, which won the program's first NCAA V8 title. Lauren Wilkinson '11 stroked the 2011 varsity eight, which matched the 2006 team with a gold medal of its own. Those two will team up in the Canadian W8+ during the 2012 London Games.
Morin and Wilkinson become the 14th and 15th Princetonians to earn bids to the 2012 Summer Olympics, which will be held July 27-August 12 in London. They also become the seventh and eighth Princeton rowing alumni to earn Olympic bids this year; if all eight end up rowing at the Games, it will be the highest total of Princetonians to row at a single Olympiad.
Six Princetonians rowed in each of the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.
Both Moran and Wilkinson will head into the Olympics off the momentum of a winning effort at the World Cup of Rowing competition in Munich, Germany. Canada, which placed fourth at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defeated Romania by more than one second in the final tune-up before London. Moran was part of both the Canadian 8+ in Beijing (2008) and Athens (2004), while Wilkinson will be making her Olympic debut.
"It is great to see two generations of Princeton rowers in one Olympic eight," head coach Lori Dauphiny said. "Andreanne and Lauren won the collegiate national championship in 2006 and 2011 respectively. This will be Andie's 3rd Olympic team and Lauren's first. They both led the Tigers to great feats: Andie the elder statesman and Lauren the rising star."
Moran could easily see a familiar face in the grand final. Former Princeton teammate Caroline Lind '06 returns to the U.S. 8+, and the Americans broke the world record during the World Cup of Rowing competition in Lucerne, Switzerland in late May. The U.S. topped Canada by .03 of a second in the grand final; the Americans did not enter the competition in Munich.
Lind was part of the U.S. W8+ that won gold in Beijing.
