LEONIA, N.J. – The No. 7 Navy lightweight rowing team splits its Eastern Sprints League matchup at No. 8 Columbia on Saturday at Overpeck Park in northern New Jersey. After the host Lions (0-3) captured the third and second varsity eight races, the Mids (2-1) came through in the clutch as its first varsity eight dominated the headlining WIT Cup contest amidst a strong head wind and choppy water conditions over the 2,000-meter course.

"We were pleased to see the 1V put together a full piece this week," remarked head coach Shawn Bagnall. "Credit to those athletes for attacking the race course and conditions, and staying composed when Columbia made solid moves in the first half of the race. Unfortunately, our 2V and 3V can't say the same, and we saw some of technical poise erode when the headwind and heat of racing got turned up.

"Clearly we are still sorting out lineups. The next few weeks will be a great opportunity to suss those out. That said, I am proud of the work the entire team put in during exam week, especially the plebe athletes, who are learning to win on all fronts of what we do here at Navy."

The action on Saturday opened with the third varsity eight event. In a highly competitive race that saw three crews going stroke-for-stroke down the Overpeck Park course, Columbia held off Navy's 4V by 1.19 seconds, 7:00.95 to 7:02.14. The Mids' 3V was just over three seconds back at 7:05.17.

The Lions controlled the majority of the second varsity eight race and clocked in 7.24 seconds ahead of the Mids with a 6:45.64 to 6:52.88 final outcome.

Victorious in the last two Whatever-It-Takes (WIT) Cup matchups in 2022 and 2023, Navy made sure that it would be taking the hardware home to Annapolis once again with a dominant 13.47-second margin of victory over Columbia. At the finish line, the Mids posted a 6:29.03 result versus a 6:42.50 mark for the Lions.

Navy will take next weekend off from competition before racing twice at home the following weekend. On the April 20, the Mids will host a tri-meet versus Harvard and Delaware before welcoming Georgetown on April 21.
 
Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Navy – 6:29.03
Columbia – 6:42.50
 
Second Varsity Eight
Columbia – 6:45.64
Navy – 6:52.88
 
Third Varsity Eight
Columbia – 7:00.95
Navy 4V – 7:02.14
Navy 3V – 7:05.17

Boat Lineups

	First Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight	Third Varsity Eight	Fourth Varsity Eight
1	Decker Moy-Jacobs	Frank Keusenkothen	Colin Dupon	Andres Aleman
2	Andy Fichtel	Robby Klanac	Karl Florida	Alex Vester
3	Stephen Frost	Noah Ferguson	Nathan Faust	Parker Schofield
4	Nani Veluchamy	Tanner Hamilton	Nihkolai Johnson-Newman	Owen Maloney
5	Brooks Kirchen	Leo Wagner	Sam Sheridan	Aaron Xing
6	Jonathan Sauer	Owen O'Malley	Thomas Kelly	Joshua Kim
7	Paddy McNamara	Ramon Mendoza	Luke McIntosh	Samuel Rembold
Str.	Luca Mezzanotte	Pete Carino	Colson Poillucci	William Register
Cox.	Mia Sachs	Kelly Bye	Devin Ratte	Christopher Ramos