Top-Ranked Lights Win Inaugural Diamond Challenge Cup, Eye Big Upcoming Test At #2 Cornell

Saturday, April 6

Princeton, N.J.

11:00 AM

Princeton University

Dartmouth, Delaware and Temple (Diamond Challenge Cup)

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Top-Ranked Lights Win Inaugural Diamond Challenge Cup, Eye Big Upcoming Test At #2 Cornell

April 06, 2019 | Men's Rowing - Lightweight

The top-ranked Princeton lightweight men handled the rare four-boat racing in impressive fashion Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie. The unbeaten first varsity eight moved to 6-0 on the season and won the inaugural Diamond Challenge Cup, while each of the other three Princeton boats posted victories.

Princeton moved to the #1 spot in the latest coaches poll following its home win over reigning IRA champion Columbia last weekend, its third straight victory in head-to-head racing. Saturday gave the Tigers an early look at multiple-boat competition, which they will see plenty more as the season unfolds, and they handled the moment in strong fashion.

"Today's experience was very different to the past few weeks," junior Charlie Kwitchoff said. "Having multiple boats in your race means that one needs to be even more internal than in a dual race. Often times, dual races can be decided by one boat or another picking a point and making a decisive move which breaks the other boat. In a four-lane race, you can't really ever tell when one crew is going to make that move, and it forces you to trust even more in your race plan and your teammates. Overall, I was happy with the way we raced today."

The varsity eight broke free of the field to win by more than 3.5 seconds, while Dartmouth held off Delaware by only .2 of a second to take the runner-up spot. The second varsity topped Delaware by seven seconds, while the 3V and 4V also posted head-to-head wins over Delaware.

"Having a multi-lane racing experience like this one is critical to the success of the team," Kwitchoff added. "It breaks the weekly rhythm of racing one other boat and forces us to think about the strategies which we and other teams will employ to win the day. While we learn a lot from dual races, we can learn even more about ourselves from multi-lane races. Naturally, everyone wants to use this race as preparation for the HYP and the Sprints, and the crews we raced today gave us an excellent opportunity to prepare for those situations. I know I wouldn't want to go into either the HYP or the Sprints without having lined up against multiple crews at some point in the season."

Princeton will make its first appearance on the road this coming Saturday, and it will do so against the only team to earn a victory over the Tigers at any point in the 2018-19 academic year. The top-ranked Tigers will head to the Cayuga Inlet to face #2 Cornell; the Big Red topped Princeton at the Head of the Charles in the fall.

Varsity Eight
Princeton        5:58.3
Dartmouth      6:01.9
Delaware         6:02.1
Temple            6:17.1

Second Varsity Eight
Princeton        6:08.0
Delaware         6:15.0
Temple            6:22.9
Dartmouth      6:23.2

Third Varsity Eight
Princeton        6:15.6
Delaware         6:19.1

Fourth Varsity Eight
Princeton        6:19.3
Delaware         6:22.6

LINEUPS
1V
Gianni Pompili
Charlie Kwitchoff
Daniel Hogan
Jordi Cabanas
David Slear
Adam Teece
George Dickinson
S - Marcus Jonas
C - Sydney Edwards

2V
Rick Swanton
George Middleton
Greg Kernisan
Sam Breckenridge
Andrew Berg
Will Hess
Henry Thomas
S - Henry Vecchione
C - Shea Minter

3V
Matt Butler
Daniel Chao
Tyler Skow
Ameen Moshirfar
Jack Woll
Jason Sun
Matt Collins
S - Alex Williams
C - Riesa Cassano

4V
Gordon Walters
Oliver Crane
Peter Colvin
Clayton Travis
Peter Colvin
Oliver Crane
Niko Apostolakis
S - Nick Wooldridge
C - David Veldran