demanding sport, contributing to a noticeable increase in the success and competitiveness of many collegiate women's rowing teams. This, in part, is to comply with Title IX; many of the football powers use women's rowing to help balance out the large number of scholarships awarded to male football players. As a result, many women's college rowers have not previously competed at high school or for a club team. Lightweight rowing When Canadian sculler Joseph Wright began coaching at Penn in 1916, he discovered that he had a number of smaller but excellent oarsmen. His idea of creating a crew composed entirely of these lighter weight rowers—averaging 150 pounds per man—quickly spread to other institutions, and by 1919 the American Rowing Association officially recognized competition in lightweight rowing by 150-pounders in eight-oared shells. The initial weight difference between lightweights and heavyweights of that era—about 20 pounds—was not particularly substantial. In fact, lightweight rowers weights were much closer to the heavyweight crews of that era than they are now. For men, the maximum weight is currently 160 lbs. For women, the weight limit is 130 lbs. Rowers must propel the weight of their equipment and coxswain as well as their own weight down the race course. The weight of equipment and coxswain is roughly the same for heavyweights and lightweights. As a generalization, the greater the strength, endurance and perseverance of a rower—as compared to the total weight he or she must propel down the course—the greater the speed. In rowing, taller individuals have a leverage advantage, and, as a rule, heavier individuals tend to have more absolute strength to allocate not only to themselves but also to the weight of the equipment and coxswain. A top heavyweight boat will thus be faster than a top lightweight boat, but a top lightweight boat will be faster than many heavyweight boats. For example, the winning lightweight men's 8 at the 2015 to 2019 IRAs was faster than the finals time for all but 6 to 12 heavyweights 8s. There are races for both men's and women's lightweight rowing. However, many of the smaller colleges have limited sized programs and simply field open weight boats, which include rowers who would qualify as lightweights, and many larger Division I-A universities, cognizant of Title IX issues, have limited the size of their men's programs. This is especially apparent in the west, where California Lightweight Crew remains