While the Summer Olympics might be the glamour event of the 2008 crew season, it is far from the lone international competition. Current men's lightweight rowers James Donovan '10 and Robin Prendes '11, along with open rower Ashton Brown '11, will head to Brandenburg, Germany on July 17-20 to compete for the U.S. at the U23 World Championships. Simon Carcagno '98 has been named to the U.S. LM8+ that will race at the Senior World Championships in Linz, Austria on July 22-27, and Jesse Karmazin '07 will compete at the Paralympic Games in Beijing from Sept 6-17.

Donovan served as the stroke for the Princeton men's lightweight crew this season and helped the Tigers to a No. 1 national ranking during the season and a silver medal at Eastern Sprints. Princeton owned a regular season victory over eventual national champion Cornell and held a lead over the Big Red 1500 meters into the IRA national final, but the experienced Cornell boat fought back for the win. Prendes was also a stroke for the Princeton lightweights, although he served in the novice boat. The Princeton freshmen had another strong season and reached the grand final at Eastern Sprints. The duo won their final of the lightweight men's double sculls, winning by more than 25 seconds. The duo finished in 6:41.66, while Bachelor's Barge Club finished in a 7:06.68.

Brown was recently selected to the Canadian women's 8+ and will sit in the bow seat. Brown is a rising sophomore for the open crew.

Simon Carcagno has been chosen as an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team, but he will also compete for the U.S. in the Senior World Championships. Carcagno was a U.S. alternate at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Karmazin will make the same trip to Beijing that other former Princetonians will make this summer to compete in the Paralympics. To read a 2005 feature from the Princeton Alumni Weekly about Karmazin, click here.