Heavyweights Remain Unbeaten, Head Into Ivy Season Off Navy-Princeton Cup Victory

Saturday, April 1

Princeton, N.J.

9:00 AM

Princeton University

Navy (The Navy-Princeton Rowing Cup)

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Heavyweights Remain Unbeaten, Head Into Ivy Season Off Navy-Princeton Cup Victory

April 01, 2017 | Heavyweight Rowing

Illness during the week and rough conditions on Lake Carnegie added to the challenge of facing an always-tough Midshipmen program, but the Princeton heavyweights handled everything in impressive fashion Saturday morning. The Tigers won the top four races, including an 18-second victory in the 1V that kept the Navy-Princeton Rowing Cup in the Shea Rowing Center.

Head coach Greg Hughes had to make several lineup changes prior to the Tigers' first Cup races of the season, including a couple within the reigning Sprints/IRA medalist 1V. That didn't keep the Tigers from breaking out fairly early in their showdown with Navy. The Princeton 1V held a solid lead by the midway point of the way, weathered a Navy push and then used a strong final sprint to win by 18 seconds in 6:09.7.

"The conditions were a great test for our boat this weekend," said junior stroke Julian Goldman. "We showed that we're capable of handling the unknown. The mentality we took was to treat the rough conditions like a challenge, sort of like the next step for our boat, and I think we overcame that challenge quite well.

"We always view Navy weekend as an incredible opportunity at the beginning of our season," he added. "It's great to see a fierce opponent like them before getting into the Ivy season because it prepares us for the gritty racing that is to come."

The 1V, coming off its season-opening win over Georgetown, knew it needed to keep building speed as it entered the heart of April, when its historic Ivy League Cup races would be decided. Goldman saw progress during the week, but also the way his crew handled the morning challenges.

"At the end of the day it's a couple of guys having outrageous fun, no matter what the conditions are," he said. "The more we embrace it, the more we can really get into a groove and hit our rhythm. Every boat has its own rhythm, and we found ours this week and had fun with it. That's great progress."

Princeton won the 2V, 3V, and 4V races, while Navy earned a win in the 5V. The closest race came in the 3V showdown, where Navy pushed back on the reigning IRA gold medalists, but not enough to hand the Tigers their first loss since 2015.

The Tigers will make their lone road trip of the regular season next weekend, although it won't require a terribly long drive. Princeton will head down to the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia to race both Columbia and Penn for the Childs Cup, the oldest active collegiate rowing trophy. The event was first raced in 1879, and Princeton can become the first team to win the Childs Cup 50 times with a victory Saturday. The Tigers have won this regatta 22 of the last 23 years.

Varsity Eight
Princeton 6:09.7
Navy 6:27.7

Second Varsity Eight
Princeton 6:10.0
Navy 6:26.4

Third Varsity Eight
Princeton 6:18.1
Navy 6:21.9

Fourth Varsity Eight
Princeton 6:25.0
Navy 6:31.8

Fifth Varsity Eight
Navy 6:28.1
Princeton 6:50.1

1V
C: McFall
8: Goldman
7: Francis
6: George
5: Bewicke-Copley
4: Mead
3: Chance
2: Livingstone
1: Lawrie

2V
C: Wylie
8: Naylor
7: Benstead
6: LeRoux
5: D'Agostino
4: DeGroot
3: Johnson
2: Else
1: Toch

3V
C: Levy
8: Morgan
7: Watt
6: Lawton
5: Benzecry
4: Evans
3: Levine
2: Hutzley
1: Kerr

4V
C: Sola
8: Babikian
7: Bernhard
6: Wambersie
5: Doyle
4: Redd
3: Sands
2: Bartolucci
1: Killeen

5V
C: Noordin
8: Ruscus
7: Palmer
6: Michael
5: Bao
4: Jiranek
3: Moskovitz
2: Lindfield Roberts
1: Segal