Princeton University Athletics
April 14, 2011 | Heavyweight Rowing
The two highest-ranked men's heavyweight rowing teams in the East will meet Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie, as the third-ranked Harvard Crimson and the fourth-ranked Princeton Tigers will compete for the Compton Cup in a Saturday morning regatta that begins at 9 a.m.
Princeton is 4-0 on the season, including last weekend's Childs Cup sweep of Ivy League rivals Penn and Columbia. That race took place on the Schuylkill River and will be the Tigers' last regular season competition outside of its home course; for the next three weeks, Princeton will host four league rivals on Lake Carnegie.
The Compton Cup regatta has been in existence since 1933, when Princeton began a run of four straight victories over the Crimson. Since then, Harvard has been the dominant squad and holds a 58-14 edge over Princeton in the all-time series. The Crimson has won eight of the last nine meetings, with Princeton earning a 2006 victory during its Ivy League championship season.
The 2010 season produced a pair of memorable meetings between the two programs. The latter came in the EARC final, where a favored Harvard boat had to hold off Princeton in the EARC grand final to capture the Ivy League title. Princeton was within three seconds of the Crimson and was neck-and-neck for much of the race.
While it was the most important of the two meetings, it might not have been the most memorable. During the regular season, the two teams were close to even with about 900 meters remaining. Then this happened when Princeton's rudder cable broke; fortunately, nobody was injured in the accident.
While Princeton's ultimate goal of this weekend is to bring the Compton Cup back to Princeton for the second time in a decade, simply finishing the course will be a first goal.
Following this weekend, Princeton will host both Cornell and Yale in the Carnegie Cup regatta next weekend.
COMPTON CUP SCHEDULE
9:00 3V
9:20 1F
9:40 2V
10:00 1V
