ANNAPOLIS, Md. - One week after kicking of the 2026 spring season versus Princeton, the Navy lightweight crew team will be back in action with a pair of Eastern Sprints League matchups on Saturday as part of the National Collegiate Lightweight Invitational. Hosted by Columbia at Overpeck Park in Leonia, New Jersey, the NCLI will have 11 different schools matched up in competition starting at 10 a.m. and running through 5 p.m. Navy immediately joins the fray as the Mids will go head-to-head with the Yale Bulldogs in a three-race slate beginning at 10 a.m. before turning its attention to a WIT Cup rivalry matchup versus the Columbia Lions starting at 3:30 p.m.

The entire slate of racing on Saturday also involves the Mids' third and fourth varsity eights in action versus a variety of opponents. First on the waters of Overpeck Park on Saturday will be Navy's 4V8 in a three-team race against Penn and Princeton starting at 10 a.m. The Navy-Yale showdown then gets into gear with the following matchup, a 3V8 contest at 10:06 a.m. After a host of other head-to-head races, the 2V8s from Navy and Yale will go head-to-head at 10:48 a.m. The Johnson Cup will be on the line for the final Navy-Yale race of the morning at 11:12 a.m. as the first varsity crews battle for the right to take home the hardware. 

After a four-hour break, Navy's 4V8 will face off for a second piece of the day versus Penn and Princeton beginning at 3:30 p.m. The same conglomeration of teams will race six minutes later in a 3V8 contest. The spotlight towards the Navy-Columbia matchup 30 minutes later with a 2V8 race between the Mids and Lions with the Penn Quakers competing as a guest crew. The race for WIT Cup will close out the action-packed day for Navy and Columbia as the V8 take center stage at 4:42 p.m.

What's at Stake
Eads Johnson Cup
Established in 2004 and presented to the winner of the varsity race between Navy and Yale, the trophy is named after Eads Johnson, the captain of the 1934 Yale lightweight rowing team and a 20-year member of the U.S. Navy. In its history, the Bulldogs have earned the cup 15 times versus five for the Mids. 

Jon Van Amringe Cup
The Van Amringe Cup is awarded to the team with the highest cumulative finish across all five races. Van Amringe was a Yale lightweight rower, who first served in the U.S. Navy and then coached the Navy lightweights. The trophy was first awarded in 2019.

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WIT Cup (Whatever It Takes)
The WIT Cup was put into rotation by Columbia's Class of '98 and was originally awarded to the winner of the varsity eight race featuring Columbia, Navy and Rutgers. The trophy had been out of commission since 2006 when the Scarlet Knights disbanded its lightweight rowing program, but was revived in 2014 with Columbia earning initial possession of it for three consecutive years before Navy got into in the win column in 2017 at home on the Severn River. Since it was put back into rotation, the series is tied 5-5.

Most Recent Navy-Yale Matchup: March 29, 2025 in Princeton, N.J.
Yale swept a two-race slate of competition against Navy as part of the 2025 NCLI at Lake Carnegie. After taking the 2V8 race, 5:52.2 to 5:58.5, the Bulldogs held on for an epic 0.2-second margin of victory in the V8 race for the Johnson Cup. Navy held a slight edge over Yale after the opening sprint to the 500-meter mark as the action continued in a stroke-for-stroke duel with the Mids crossing the halfway point with a two-seat lead on the Bulldogs. Yale had a strong rebuttal to Navy's challenge and pulled even over the next quarter of the race. Breaking out to as much as a two-seat lead down the stretch, the Bulldogs withstood a valiant final push by the Mids, who left it all out on the water and came up just 0.2 seconds short with the final decision going to the Bulldogs, 5:34.3 to 5:34.5.

Most Recent Navy-Columbia Matchup: March 30, 2025 in Princeton, N.J.
Taking part in a trio of races on day two of the 2025 NCLI, Navy out-paced Columbia in two of three contests. The series was initially knotted one race a piece as the Mids were victorious in the 3V8 matchup before the Lions took the 2V8 race. With the WIT Cup on the line for the two V8 crews, Navy led early over Columbia and continually put distance between itself and its opposition. The Mids made sure the trophy would be heading back to Annapolis as they broke out to an open water margin over the Lions and retained the WIT Cup with a 5:58.4 effort versus a 6:02.2 result for Columbia.

Spectator Information
Located in Leonia, New Jersey, Overpeck County Park is an 811-acre county park in Bergen County, with major sections in Leonia, Palisades Park, Ridgefield Park, and Teaneck, surrounding Overpeck Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River. Spectators can enter the park from the Challenger Road entrance by following directions to the Overpeck County Park Amphitheatre. If parking near the team launch site, race viewing is best seen from the western shore about a 15 minute walk from the parking area.