Men's crew teams hope to continue success against top opponents

The men’s lightweight and heavyweight crew teams will face tough challenges this weekend, with the lightweight team team taking on Penn and Georgetown University for the Wood-Hammond Trophy at Lake Carnegie this weekend and its heavyweight counterparts matching up against Cornell and Yale in the Carnegie Cup, also at home.

The lightweight squad has seen success in the past few weeks, defeating University of Delaware and Dartmouth two weeks ago before pulling off a stunning victory over No. 1 Cornell last weekend. The Tigers completed their race in 6.03.7, 3.5 seconds ahead of the powerful Big Red, and have now established themselves as a top power at this point in their season.

Now the Tigers will take on the Penn Quakers, who have thus far in their season suffered losses to fellow Ivy teams Cornell, Harvard, Yale and Columbia, as well as the Georgetown Hoyas, who edged out the College of the Holy Cross before falling in their meet against United States Naval Academy in the past two weeks. The Tigers, who entered their meet against Cornell ranked fourth in the nation and whose history of performances indicates the possibility of even higher placement, will look to solidify their status as one of the nation’s preeminent teams with a sweep of this Saturday’s competition.

Meanwhile, the heavyweight squad will head into its matchup against Cornell and Yale following a series of imposing victories. Princeton scored victories over Columbia and Penn in the Child’s Cup two weeks ago, and just this past weekend added a victory over Harvard to claim an unprecedented repeat victory of the Compton Cup. The Tigers have gone undefeated in their spring meets thus far, and victories over another two Ivies would further add to an already impressive season.

Cornell has proven an able contender over the course of the spring season and is currently ranked No. 8 in the country. Nevertheless, the Big Red has dropped its race against Harvard, losing by a time of almost five seconds, and should prove a surmountable foe for Princeton’s undefeated squad. Yale has also shown itself to be a significant threat, thrashing Penn and Columbia at the Blackwell Cup this past weekend with a 15-second margin of victory. The Elis have also defeated fellow Ivy League teams Dartmouth and Brown and topped Harvard at the Head of the Charles in the fall for the first time in school history.

Against these formidable opponents, both crew teams will attempt to continue their streaks of success. The heavyweights will kick off competition on Lake Carnegie at 7 a.m. Saturday, followed by the lightweight team at 11 a.m.