Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
The Content Cup: Brown
Players Mentioned
Thrilling Rally Earns 4th-Ranked Heavies Another Year With The Content Cup
May 02, 2015 | Heavyweight Rowing
On the day of the 141st Kentucky Derby, the fourth-ranked Princeton heavyweights closed their thrilling showdown with Brown in a fashion fitting this celebrated day. There would be no roses waiting for them, but they were more than happy to get their hands back on the Content Cup.
Princeton won its second straight Content Cup, and its 10th in the 22-year series, by rallying from about seven seats down in the final 500 meters and pulling past the eighth-ranked Bears in the final 10 strokes. The Tigers finished in 5:37.9, only .7 of a second ahead of the Bears, to move to 8-1 on the season, 5-1 in the Ivy League.
The victory should clinch the second seed at the 2015 Eastern Sprints, which will be held May 17 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. Yale, which topped Princeton by just over a second last weekend, will likely be the top seed.
But when you look at Princeton's recent margins with both Yale and Brown, and then factor in a very tight race between Harvard and Northeastern Saturday morning as well, and you could be looking at one of the most tightly packed championship races in recent Sprints history.
If it is anything like Saturday's battle on Lake Carnegie, nobody will forget it. Brown, which claimed silver at both the Eastern Sprints and the IRA national championships last year, was able to grab an early lead and maintain it through the first 1500 meters of the race. While Princeton didn't cut into it much, it also never lost touch with the Bears.
That would be crucial, because once that final sprint came, Princeton started gaining one seat after another in quick, exciting fashion.
"I called our shifts a little bit earlier than usual; in this case I called the first shift at around the 600 to go instead of the 500 to go," senior coxswain Jameson Pesce said. "We had practiced out sprint a few days ago, and I knew we had the speed to get the job done, I just didn't know if the guys were too spent after battling for so long. However, once we started moving, I knew we had too much momentum to stop and it was merely going to be a question of getting in front before we hit the line."
The varsity boat was one of three to win Saturday morning. Both the Princeton 2V and 3V claimed wins. The second varsity (5:46.8) won by more than four seconds to cap a perfect regular season, while the third varsity (5:54.0) won by nearly six seconds to move to 7-1 on the season.
Brown won both the 4V and 5V races, though both margins were around three seconds.
While the Tigers can now turn their full focus on winning their first Sprints V8 gold since 2006, they did take the time to honor their senior class during a beautiful Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie. The Class of 2015, which helped carry Princeton to the medal stand at Sprints and a fourth-place finish at the IRA Championships last year, consists of Keith Dauson, Sebastian Grimberg, Jamie Hamp, Richard Johnston, Timothy Masters, Ryan Meder, David Octeau and Jameson Pesce.
"How you end a thing is often how you remember it, and I knew that the seniors in the boat, myself included, wanted to have a positive feeling about ending our racing careers on Carnegie," Pesce said. "Today was special not just because we won, but in the manner in which we overcame the challenge Brown presented to us. Until today, I had never been in a Princeton boat that sprinted through another crew in the last 200 meters, and doing so on my last race at home made it even more incredible and memorable."
"The entire team had a solid day of racing against a strong Brown team," head coach Greg Hughes said. "It was a great way to honor the class of 2015 in their final race on Carnegie. The Class of 2015 has had a big impact on the attitude and intensity that has developed in our program over the last four years and it was great to see so many of them come away with a strong win in their last race on Lake Carnegie."
Varsity Eight
Princeton 5:37.9
Brown 5:38.6
Second Varsity Eight
Princeton 5:46.8
Brown 5:51.0
Third Varsity Eight
Princeton 5:54.0
Brown 5:59.9
Fourth Varsity Eight
Brown 6:04.0
Princeton 6:07.1
Fifth Varsity Eight
Brown 6:17.8
Princeton 6.20.4
LINEUPS
1V
C Pesce
8 Mead
7 Konttinen
6 Masters
5 Barakso
4 Vystavel
3 Eble
2 Hamp
1 Benstead
2V
C Barton
8 Goldman
7 Barker
6 Northrop
5 D¹Agonstino
4 Livingstone
3 Chance
2 Lord
1 Francis
3V
Cox McFall
8 Stein
7 Lord
6 Grimberg
5 Bernhard
4 Wambersie
3 Meder
2 Guyett
1 Toch
4v
Cox Coates
8. Johnston
7. Romeyn
6. Lawton
5. Lindburg
4. Bartolucci
3. Evans
2. Bradbury
1. Shaw
5v
Cox Sola
8. Dauson
7. Helmers
6. Vaughn
5. Ferguson
4. Ruscus
3. Whitlow
2. Lowrey
1. Segal