M. heavyweight crew drops Compton Cup to No. 4 Crimson

Going into last Saturday's regatta on Lake Carnegie, the Harvard heavyweights hadn't won on Princeton's home course in ten years, dating back to 1993. But at the end of the day, Harvard had broken that streak in dominating fashion, destroying the Tigers by 13 seconds to win the Compton Cup for the second straight year.

Princeton had been enjoying a successful run through its season since an up and down early trip to California that included losses to University of California-Berkeley and Wisconsin and a thrilling comefrom-behind victory over Navy. Prior to the Harvard race, the heavyweights had defeated Rutgers on the Scarlet Knights' home course and then swept the Logg Cup on Lake Carnegie, defeating all the crews from Penn and Columbia.

The Tigers were thus optimistic entering the Harvard race, expecting to stretch their home winning streak over the Crimson to a tenth year. The Crimson were favored, however, entering the weekend, as they held the nation's No. 4 ranking to the Tigers' No. 6. As a team they had not lost a regatta since the 2001 Compton Cup on Lake Carnegie. However, Princeton's home course advantage might have provided the extra juice needed to give the Tigers the edge to upset their rival.

This was certainly not to be, though, as Harvard jumped out to an early lead and simply dominated the Tigers, avenging its loss of two seasons before. The Crimson cruised to a 13-second, open water victory, leaving the Tigers to pick up the pieces of their season and scramble to put them back together as Eastern Sprints and the National Championships rapidly approach.

In the rest of the action, Harvard's second varsity eights defeated Princeton by over 12 seconds, but the Tigers' varsity four and novice eights avenged the top two boats' losses with close victories over the Crimson, by three and four seconds, respectively. Crews from Massacusetts Institute of Technology raced in the first varsity eights race as well as the two novice eight races, finishing behind Harvard and Princeton in each.

The Tigers will look to bounce back from the disappointing weekend this Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. The team will travel north to battle Yale and Cornell for possession of the Carnegie Cup, which Princeton currently holds.

While the heavyweights suffered their devastating loss on Lake Carnegie, the Princeton lightweight crew was continuing its dominance of road regattas with a sweep of Penn on the Quakers' home course on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pa. The crews competed for the Wood-Hammond Trophy, which last year the Tigers claimed with a sweep of all four races.

It was the same familiar story line last weekend, with Princeton dominating its rival across the board. The first varsity race was the closest of the day, with the Tigers cruising to victory by a three and a half second margin. Earlier in the day, both the second varsity eights and the first freshman had defeated the Quakers by over seven seconds.

The victory is Princeton's second straight road win, as the Tigers had traveled to Cornell the week before and crushed the Big Red. This weekend, Princeton will look to make it three road victories in a row when it travels to Yale for the Harvard-Yale-Princeton regatta.

The H-Y-P regatta promises to be Princeton's most challenging of the season thus far. While the Tigers have suffered a disappointing home loss to Georgetown, that regatta did not have the same feel as a contest with old rivals Harvard and Yale. On top of the sentimental concerns, Yale is the defending national champion and narrowly defeated Georgetown earlier this year.

A defeat of the Elis would not only be a huge step for Princeton but also would make up for the Tigers' only loss of the season, to the Hoyas. However, to accomplish the victory the Tigers will have to pull out their best race of the season, as both Harvard and Yale have very tough crews.

Still, the past two wins have given the Tigers confidence entering this final regatta of the regular season. After H-Y-Ps the Tigers will have a couple of weeks to train for Eastern Sprints, in which Princeton is looking to win a medal. After that come the National Championships and the culmination of the season. However, before Princeton can look ahead to these championship regattas, Harvard and Yale loom on the horizon, looking to take the Tigers down.