Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Compton Cup: Harvard/MIT
Players Mentioned
Harvard Retains Compton Cup In Close Race; Princeton 2V Remains Unbeaten
April 21, 2013 | Heavyweight Rowing
Both teams won two of the four races, though the second-ranked Crimson retained the Compton Cup with a close victory over the fifth-ranked Tigers. Harvard finished in 6:03.3, while Princeton was less than four seconds off the pace and finished in 6:06.7. The win was Harvard's seventh straight in this series.
The Crimson 2V has won nine of the last 11 in the series, but the undefeated Princeton second varsity came through with a big win. The Tigers won in 6:13.2, 3.3 seconds faster than a Harvard crew that already owned wins over Brown and Cornell this season.
"Harvard's a great crew and it was a hard-fought win for us," Schwarzenbach said. "Our focus for every race has been to find our base speed as early as we can in the piece. As soon as we came off the start, the whole boat did a great job of finding that rhythm, and we managed to execute our race plan in a way we haven't been able to so far this season.
"Considering that this was my last chance to race Harvard in a dual, this race meant a lot to me personally," Schwarzenbach added. "It really was exciting to see the way the whole boat really stepped up in practice this week to rise to the occasion. We're all really happy with the win today."
"The 2V has been performing well so far this season," head coach Greg Hughes said. "Today, they were able to establish the lead in some tough conditions and they raced hard to win against a good crew."
The Harvard first freshman eight (6:26.4) topped the Princeton third varsity (6:31.2) by less than five seconds, but the Tiger fourth varsity had an impressive showing in the opening race of the dual. The Tiger 4V won in 6:35.3, which was more than eight seconds faster than the Harvard 3V, and more than 16 seconds faster than the Crimson 4V.
"I think that the results of the 2V and 4V today are a product of the hard work that the entire team did this year," Hughes said. "Everyone has been stepping up and it's rewarding to see those two boats earn some results because of it. That said, it was just one day in a long season and we still have work to do."
Princeton will head to the Housatonic River next weekend to take on No. 8 Yale and No. 12 Cornell for the Carnegie Cup. The Tigers will be looking to break a seven-year trend on Saturday; since 2006, the home team has won the first varsity race and reclaimed the Carnegie Cup.
Next Saturday will also mark the beginning of a three-week countdown to Eastern Sprints, which will be held May 19 in Worcester, Mass.
"Sprints is obviously our biggest goal at this point in the season, but right now we're just taking it one week at a time," Schwarzenbach said. "The 2V has made enormous progress over the season so far, and we're really pleased with our results, but we've got plenty more work to do before we're ready for that level of competition."
Varsity Eight
Harvard 6:03.3
Princeton 6:06.7
Second Varsity Eight
Princeton 6:13.2
Harvard 6:16.5
Third Varsity/First Freshman Eight
Harvard 1F 6:26.4
Princeton 3V 6:31.2
Third/Fourth Varsity Eight
Princeton 4V 6:35.3
Harvard 3V 6:44.0
Harvard 4V 6:51.4