April 25, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy and Penn varsity boats were both awarded second-place finishes behind victorious Harvard in the annual Adams Cup race between the three heavyweight rowing programs held Saturday morning on the Severn River in Annapolis.

The results at the finish line saw Harvard win the race in a time of 5:54.50, Penn finish in second place with a time of 6:03.71 and Navy complete the course in third with a clocking of 6:07.16. However, after the race the officials ruled that the Penn boat "interfered with the Navy boat on multiple occasions during the race, particularly over the last 500 meters of the course." Because of the judgement the Mids and the Quakers were placed into a second-place tie by the officials.

Navy placed second in three of the remaining four races contested on the day. The Mids finished second to Harvard in the third varsity and both freshman races and trailed both the Crimson and the Quakers in the second varsity race.

"We had hoped for a better day," said Navy head coach Rick Clothier. "We have some lineup questions ahead of us, and not much time to come up with those answers."

The Mids will close out their pre-championship slate of races next week when Navy faces Columbia before competing in the annual Eastern Sprints Championship May 10.

1V (Adams Cup): Harvard, 5:54.50; Penn, 6:03.71**; Navy, 6:07.16**
-- Official Adams Cup Results: 1. Harvard, T-2. Penn, T-2. Navy
2V: Harvard, 5:59.7; Penn, 6:06.06; Navy, 6:09.86
3V: Harvard, 6:05.70; Navy, 6:22.01; Penn, 6:33.04
1F: Harvard: 5:56.80; Navy, 6:01.25; Penn, 6:05.45
2F: Harvard, 6:26.50; Navy, 6:34.90