April 22, 2006

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy lightweight crew team posted a five-race sweep of Harvard, Saturday morning on the Severn River. Included in the victories was the varsity boat winning the Haines Cup for the fourth time in five years.

"I think this was the best race for our varsity boat all year," said Navy head coach Rob Friedrich. "I was impressed with the way they rowed. It was exciting."

Navy's varsity boat completed the 2,000-meter course in a time of 6:19.8 to edge Harvard's top boat by a nearly five seconds (6:24.3).

A furious rally over the final half of the race gave Navy's second varsity boat a victory by six-tenths of a second. The Crimson's entry jumped out to a one-half of a boat length lead at the midpoint of the race, but the Mids slowly crept their way back into the race to win by less than two feet. Navy was clocked in a time of 6:31.7 to edge Harvard's time of 6:32.3.

"It was a gutsy race by our second varsity," said Friedrich. "They did all they could to get back into the race and come away with the victory."

In the remaining races, Navy won the first freshman race by a little more than five seconds, the second freshman race by 15 seconds and the third varsity race by 37 seconds.

"Overall it was an exciting to see all of our boats do well," said Friedrich. "This was a great day of racing to build on our speed for the second half of the season."

Navy will next be in action May 14 when the Mids race against Penn in Philadelphia.

Lightweights
Varsity (Haines Cup)
Navy, 6:19.8; Harvard, 6:24.3
Navy

2nd Varsity
Navy, 6:31.7; Harvard, 6:32.3

1st Freshman
Navy, 6:51.7; Harvard, 6:57.3

2nd Freshman
Navy, 7:04.5; Harvard, 7:19.8

3rd Varsity
Navy, 6:48.9; Navy, 7:03.8; Harvard, 7:25.5