5/7/2004 - Men's Lightweight Crew
Lightweight Crew to Race Sunday for Callow Cup

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy's lightweight crew team will close its regular season Sunday when the Midshipmen challenge Penn and Delaware for the Callow Cup on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

"This weekend's race against Penn and Delaware should be as tough as all our others have been," said Navy head coach Rob Friedrich. "We are very focused on this weekend's race and executing our race plan better than we have over the past few weeks. Even though we are undefeated, so far, we still need to fine tune many things before the Eastern Sprints on May 16th."

Navy's first varsity boat, ranked first in the nation by U.S. Rowing for the fourth-straight week, will be looking for its fourth-consecutive victory in the Callow Cup series with Penn, which enters the race ranked 11th nationally. Last year's meeting in Annapolis saw the Mids post a nine-second victory over the Quakers, but Penn would go on to defeat Navy by three seconds in the Eastern Sprints Championship.

Another close contest is expected in the freshman race which features the top-two ranked boats in the latest league coaches poll.

"The freshman race pairs the top-two teams against each other in top-ranked Navy and No. 2 Penn," said Friedrich. "Penn's freshmen have been fast all season and it should be an exciting race from start to finish."