Men’s lightweight narrowly loses to Navy

Women’s crew had a good weekend at the George Washington University Invitational Regatta, while the men struggled. The women’s rowing team won the race on the Potomac River for the second year in a row, winning nine of ten races. The lightweight men lost to Navy in a tight race on their home course in Orchard Beach, and the heavyweights lost the Childs Cup, which they won in last year’s race, to Princeton in a heated matchup.

The women bested teams from St. Joseph’s, Navy, George Washington, and Georgetown on Friday, only losing the third varsity eight’s race to St. Joseph’s. The varsity eight boat beat St. Joseph’s by over seven seconds, finishing with a time of 6.18.6, ahead of St. Joseph’s time of 6:25.8. The second varsity boat overtook St. Joseph’s with a wider margin, winning by about 18 seconds with a time of 6:16.9 to beat the Hawks’ time of 6:35.1.

Women’s crew won’t be back in action again until April 24, when it faces league opponents Brown and Cornell.

The heavyweight men’s team struggled with the Tigers and the Quakers at the Child’s Cup on Saturday. Princeton came in first in three of five races, having been disqualified from second varsity eights, which they would have won if it had not been for interference with Columbia’s boat. This moved Columbia and Penn up one place and gave the Lions their only first-place finish of the day.
Princeton won the varsity eight race with a time of 6:06.00, not far in front of Columbia, which finished with 6:08.34. Penn trailed with a time of 6:14.57.

Next week, the heavyweight rowers will look to defend their Blackwell Cup title against Yale and Penn in Philadelphia.

The lightweight team also competed on its home turf on Saturday in three races against Navy, all of which it lost.

Navy finished the varsity eight race about four seconds in front of the Lions, with a time of 6:13.8 to beat Columbia’s 6:18.1 time. Although the Lions lost, they came closer this year than the last time that Columbia and Navy faced off. Navy took the second varsity eight boat with a 6:28.4 finish, a hard-fought win, as Columbia trailed them closely with a time of 6:30.8.

The lightweights will join the heavyweight crew team when they go to Philadelphia next week to face off against Yale and Penn in the Dodge Cup.