April 29, 2011

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy heavyweight rowing team will travel to Princeton, N.J., on Saturday to compete in a neutral-site race with Columbia and George Washington. Saturday's first varsity race with Columbia will be for the Stevenson Trophy.

About the Maxwell Stevenson Trophy
The Maxwell Stevenson Trophy is named for the early chairman of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association and its presented to the winner of the first varsity race between Navy and Columbia.

While Columbia has won the last three events, Navy maintains a 21-4 all-time advantage in the trophy race.

Last Year's Race for the Stevenson Trophy
Competing in Princeton, N.J., Columbia finished with a time of 5:36.50, just ahead of Navy's 5:39.90 showing.

Navy dropped the second varsity race, but both freshman boats won their respective races.

The Last Time Out
Under harsh weather conditions last weekend in Philadelphia, Pa., Navy's first varsity crew took second place competing against Harvard and Penn. The Mids finished just under four seconds behind first-place and No. 3-ranked Harvard, but well ahead of third-place Penn, as they topped the Quakers by 12 seconds.

In the Rankings
Navy is currently ranked 10th, up three spots from last week, in the USRowing varsity eight poll. Columbia enters this weekend ranked No. 13.

Below are the rankings for each of Navy's boats in the most recent EARC poll:

Varsity Eight - No. 8
Second Varsity Eight - No. 5
Freshman Eight - No. 5
Third Varsity Eight - No. 7
Second Freshman Eight - No. 1

Up Next
After four consecutive weeks of competition, Navy will be off next week before returning to action on May 15 at the Eastern Sprints Championship.