Princeton University Athletics
#3 Heavies Head To Housatonic For Carnegie Cup Battle With Top-Ranked Yale
April 22, 2016 | Heavyweight Rowing
LIVE VIDEO l NATIONAL POLL l CARNEGIE CUP HISTORY
HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEKEND
TIGERCAST WITH PATRICK EBLEOn one hand, Saturday's result won't mean a thing should Yale and Princeton meet up on either Lake Quinsigamond or Mercer Lake later this season.
On the other hand, these are two of the top three boats in the country, and it just happens to be one of the most historic rivals in collegiate rowing.
Let's face it. It's the Carnegie Cup. It's Princeton-Yale-Cornell. Regardless of ranking, it's big. But when you factor in these ranks, this one feels even more special.
Coming off its Compton Cup win last weekend — only its second on the Charles River since 1957 — the third-ranked Princeton heavyweights will travel to the Housatonic River to take on No. 1 Yale and No. 8 Cornell in the 95th edition of the Carnegie Cup regatta Saturday morning on the Ivy League Digital Network.
Princeton leads the all-time series with 37 wins, while Cornell has won 34. Yale is third with 23, though one of those came last year on the Cayuga Inlet, when the Bulldogs topped Princeton by 1.5 seconds.
That Yale boat went on to win Sprints, and later topped Washington to win the Royal Henley Regatta. Its only misstep came in the IRA semifinals, when it finished fourth and missed out on the grand final. Still, the boat is loaded, and it returns the grand majority into the 2016 season.
“We know they're fast,” senior Patrick Eble said. “They've shown a lot of early speed. It's really fun to go and race the best crews, especially on their home course. It's not the ideal race spot with the turn in there, but the theme for this year has been about going on the road and taking on all the challenges that are thrown at us. This is another challenge against a really fast boat.”
Princeton handled a big challenge last Saturday when it topped Harvard by less than two seconds on the Charles River. The challenge this weekend includes more than just the other boats — as if that wasn't plenty.
“It's pretty significant,” Eble said of the turn on the Housatonic. “The turn at Yale lasts from about 900 meters to about 1100 meters, so it's a 200-meter-long turn. You need to be really careful about the set of the boat, because the rudder and the spin do affect your boat on a turn like that.
“We'll put some work into it on Friday, and even on Carnegie, we have worked on long, sloping turns, just so we're prepared for it,” he added. “In our eyes, it's nothing to freak out about. We need to stay internal and execute our race plan.”
Racing will begin at 8:20 am with the Carnegie Cup showdown, where Yale will try to be the first team to win three straight in this series since Princeton won from 2004-06. To show just how tight this series has been over the last decade, no team had won this race in consecutive years between 2007-2014.
Yale ended that run last year.
Both Princeton and Cornell, which is coming off wins over Syracuse and Navy last weekend, will look to end Yale's run atop the rankings this year.
Yes, the Carnegie Cup is always a special race.
This one, though, is a little different.
This one, everybody will be watching.
SATURDAY ORDER OF RACING
Heavyweights vs. Cornell/Yale
8:20 • 1V - Carnegie Cup
9:00 • 2V
9:40 • 3V
10:20 • 4V
10:40 • 5V
