April 26, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Navy's varsity boat could not recover from a slow start as the Mids placed second to Harvard in a race between the heavyweight rowing programs from the two schools and Penn, Saturday on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

"We've worked on improving our starts all year, but another poor one today hurt us," said Navy head coach Rick Clothier.

The Mids fell behind the Crimson at the start of the race, which allowed the Harvard entry to take a one-half of a boat length lead 600 meters into the contest. The two boats jockeyed back-and-forth over the next 800 meters with neither able to sustain any kind of gain. A few miss-strokes by the Mids down the stretch enabled Harvard to win by just under one boat length.

Harvard posted a winning time of 5:35.1, Navy placed second with a time of 5:38.7 and Penn followed in third place with a time of 5:49.9.

The victory in the varsity race allows Harvard to maintain possession of the Adams Cup for the eighth-straight year, with the Mids finishing in second place in each of the last six meetings. Saturday's margin of 3.6 seconds between the two crews was a noticeable contrast to the 8.3-second win posted by the Crimson one year ago.

"I'm very proud of our crew," said Clothier. "After the start we were even with Harvard over the next three-quarters of the course. Harvard won the Eastern Sprints and finished third at the IRA National Championship last year, so we have shown a great deal of improvement from where we were at a year ago."

The Crimson also won each of the remaining three races contested on the day, with the Mids placing second in each race.

Navy's varsity boat will now travel to Seattle to compete against defending IRA champion and current No. 1-ranked Washington on May 3. The remaining Navy boats will face Columbia on May 4.

First Varsity (Adams Cup Race)
Harvard, 5:35.1; Navy, 5:38.7; Penn, 5:49.9
Second Varsity
Harvard, 5:42.6; Navy, 6:01.8; Penn, 6:04.1
First Freshman
Harvard, 5:43.8; Navy, 5:58.0; Penn, 6:04.1
Second Freshman
Harvard, 5:58.6; Navy, 6:06.2