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#6 Heavyweights Head North For Compton Cup Showdown At Harvard
April 15, 2010 | Heavyweight Rowing
The Charles River hasn't been very kind to Princeton over the years, but the sixth-ranked Tiger heavyweights will make their way to Cambridge once again to take on both No. 4 Harvard and MIT for the annual Compton Cup showdown.
Princeton is undefeated on the season, which includes victories over No. 12 Columbia and No. 18 Penn, but the biggest challenge of the early season for Greg Hughes' squad will come this weekend. In the last 50 years, Princeton has only won one Compton Cup on the Charles River, and that came during a 2006 season when Princeton won both the EARC and Henley titles and barely missed an IRA national championship.
Prior to that, Princeton hadn't won the Compton Cup on the Charles River since 1957. The Tigers nearly pulled off a shocking road repeat in 2008, but they fell by .5 of a second to the Crimson. Princeton would see a shocker of another variety last year, as it finished third in the varsity showdown. The loss to MIT dropped the Tigers to 1-3 on the season and set up what would be its toughest season in years.
Princeton has bounced back early in 2010, including a season-opening sweep of Georgetown and last weekend's Childs Cup wins over both Penn and Columbia. The Tigers have only beaten Harvard once since 2002, but will look for a second win and a likely move into the national Top 5 when Saturday's early morning regatta begins. The varsity eight showdown is scheduled for 8:24 a.m. The Tigers have been led by senior captain Michael Gilson, who rowed in the 7-seat at The Childs Cup, and talented sophomore Ian Silveira of West Bloomfield, Mich., who rowed stroke last weekend.
Silveira was the youngest rower in the varsity boat last weekend. Four juniors and three senior comprised the other seven rowers, while a fifth junior, James Connolly, served as coxswain.
This will also be a good test for the Princeton novice eight, which is undefeated through the early season. The Harvard novice was impressive against Brown, winning by more than 12 seconds.
This will be the Crimson's first home race of the spring. Last weekend, in a battle of Top 4 programs, Harvard lost by one second to Brown in Providence. Harvard is 1-1 on the season, with a season-opening win against Cornell; the Big Red will be one of two opponents next weekend for Princeton, which competes for the Eisenberg Cup at Yale the morning of April 24.
MIT is 0-4 on the season, including a loss against Columbia.