ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy lightweight rowing team kicked off its 2026 slate of racing with a fast and competitive season opener versus Princeton on Saturday. Racing down a 2,000-meter stretch of the Severn River, the Mids (0-1) were in the thick of it throughout the four-race series against the Tigers (1-0) and came up with one victory by its fourth varsity eight crew. Navy's upper-three crews all came within five seconds of knocking off their counterparts, including in the first varsity eight contest where Princeton took home the Murtaugh Cup.

The action on Saturday morning went in reverse order with the fourth varsity eight race first on the docket. The Mids in the 4V8 boat were fast throughout the 2,000 meters and clocked in with a victorious time of 6:08.9, 5.2 seconds ahead of the Tigers' 6:14.1 results. Racing as guests, Navy's 5V8 turned in a 6:33.8 time.

The ensuing race was the closest of the four-event competition on Saturday as just 2.2 seconds separated first from second. Unfortunately for the hosts, the visitors from Princeton took the event victory 6:00.5 to 6:02.7.

The second varsity eight race was a bit more straight forward as the Tigers earned the win by a margin of 4.8 seconds, 5:55.8 to 6:00.6.

In the culminating contest of the morning the top crews from both Navy and Princeton battled it out for the Murtaugh Cup. Tight throughout the 2,000 meters of action, the Mids left it all out on the Severn and kept contact with Tigers right until the end as Princeton clocked in at 5:45.4, while Navy was 3.9 seconds back with a time of 5:49.3.

"It was great to kick off US Collegiate Lightweight Men's Rowing here in Annapolis this morning," remarked head coach Shawn Bagnall. "We were blessed with outstanding conditions and both teams brought their best early-season racing to the Severn. There was a tremendous amount of learning that occurred for our very young team. That said, we were especially proud of the Plebe Class, lead by both recruited and strong walk-on novice athletes. Undoubtedly we look forward to working to improve some of our execution before two more excellent challenges next weekend at the National Collegiate Lightweight Invitational."
 
Navy will be right back in action next weekend with a pair of contests at the 2026 National Collegiate Lightweight Invitational in Leonia, New Jersey. The Mids are scheduled on Saturday to initially go head-to-head with Yale in the morning before competing against Columbia and Cornell in a three-crew competition later in the day.
 
Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Princeton – 5:45.4
Navy – 5:49.3
 
Second Varsity Eight
Princeton – 5:55.8
Navy – 6:00.6
 
Third Varsity Eight
Princeton – 6:00.5
Navy – 6:02.7
 
Fourth Varsity Eight
Navy – 6:08.9
Princeton – 6:14.1
Navy 5V – 6:33.8


Boat Lineups

	First Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight	Third Varsity Eight	Fourth Varsity Eight	Fifth Varsity Eight
1	Decker Moy-Jacobs	Jacob Harvey	Alexander Crowther	Sam Rahm	Robert McGinley
2	Sam Rembold	Frank Keusenkothen	Chirag Chandnani	Diego Zaidle	Henry Davis
3	Alexander Kaiser	Charlie Conroy	Thomas Kelly	Hayato Majoros	Nick Rueda
4	John Michael Blake	Max Gomez	Ryan Kennedy	Collin de la Garza	Michael Morris
5	Emmett Sullivan	Chris Binney	William Seitz	Noah Gomez	Conor Parro
6	Nani Veluchamy	Gunner Williams	Parker Schofield	Nihko Johnson-Newman	Owen Maloney
7	Paddy McNamara	Ben Lacuesta	B.J. Brown	Jacob MacNab	Stephen Cross
Str.	Noah Ferguson	Tanner Hamilton	George Liu	Frank Whitlock	Will Register
Cox.	Christian Ramos	Aila Toivonen	Devin Ratte	Jack Bode	Alejandro Feliciano-Acevedo