Princeton University Athletics
Fifth-Ranked Heavyweights Look To Regain Carnegie Cup
April 23, 2010 | Heavyweight Rowing
| Saturday Racing Schedule | |
| 4V/2F 8+ | 8:40 a.m. |
| Varsity Eight | 9:00 a.m. |
| Second Varsity Eight | 9:20 a.m. |
| Freshman Eight | 9:40 a.m. |
| Third Varsity Eight | 10:00 a.m. |
It's been a whirlwind of a season so far for the Princeton heavyweight crew. After regaining the oldest trophy in collegiate racing, the Childs Cup, Princeton went to the Charles River, had its rudder snap and crash into Harvard. And then it moved one spot up in the national poll. The Tigers will return to the water — hopefully for the full 2,000 meters — when it competes for the Carnegie Cup Saturday against both Yale and Cornell.
Saturday's race will be an important one for Princeton, as it competes against two teams currently ranked in the Top 10 in the latest USRowing Collegiate Poll and in the Top 7 in the latest EARC seeding poll. In terms of the seeding poll, maintaining the highest possible position ensures an easier road to the grand final, where the 2010 Ivy League champion will be determined.
Beyond that, Princeton will simply be looking to get back on the water and compete after a crazy Compton Cup showdown the prior weekend. You can see video of that race here; at the 1150-meter mark, while locked in a tight battle with the fourth-ranked Harvard Crimson, the Princeton rudder snapped and left the coxswain unable to control the boat.
Even with the crash, Princeton moved from sixth to fifth in the national poll. Both its tight competition with Harvard through more than half the race and a loss by then-No. 5 Syracuse helped the Tigers move into the national Top 5 just one season after winning only one race.
The Tigers will have their hands full Saturday morning on the Housatonic in a rivalry that has been extremely tight recently. In fact, over the last three years, each team has claimed the Carnegie Cup one time: Yale (2007), Princeton (2008) and Cornell (2009). This regatta has run 88 times since it first began in 1911, and Princeton holds a slim 35-33 edge over Cornell in overall victories, while Yale stands third with 20 wins. Princeton has been the dominant program recently, though; Princeton has won 15 of the last 18 Carnegie Cup competitions.
The 2010 competition should be a tight one. Princeton comes in with a 3-2 record, though one of its losses was to MIT last weekend; the Tigers held a significant edge over MIT when its rudder snapped. Yale, ranked eighth in the nation, swept Columbia and Penn on the Schuylkill last weekend. Cornell had the biggest race of the weekend, edging Syracuse by less than a second to jump from 10th to sixth in the national poll.
There will be plenty of interesting races to watch in the morning. The first EARC seeding poll came out this past week, and all three crews are mostly well-represented throughout the different rankings. In the 2V8 poll, Princeton ranks third, while Cornell and Yale are fifth and seventh. In the freshman eight, Princeton is second and Cornell is fourth while Yale stands ninth. The 3V8 has Yale second, Cornell fourth and Princeton sixth.
Following this weekend, Princeton will compete for only the second time at home on May 1 when it hosts third-ranked Brown for The Content Cup. That regatta is tentatively scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., with the first varsity race slated to go at 9:45.