Navy Crew Teams All in Action Over the Easter Weekend

Women's team at GW Invite; heavy's race for historic Adams Cup

	Navy Crew

April 5, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The 20th annual George Washington Invitational and the 71st edition of the Adams Cup highlights this weekend's schedule for the Navy's three rowing programs.

Fresh off the program's first Playfair Cup victory over Boston University and George Washington, Navy's women's team will take part in the George Washington Invitational this weekend on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Navy's varsity boat will race Friday against Iowa (2:57 p.m.) and Saturday against St. Joseph's (9:21 a.m.) and Clemson (2:32 p.m.) as part of the regatta.

In addition to the varsity race, Navy also will enter boats into the second varsity eight, varsity four and freshman eight flights.

Navy's varsity boat topped the Terriers and the Colonials last weekend to win the Playfair Cup for the first time since the schools began racing for the trophy in 2000. The victory also allowed Navy to garner seven points and rank 26th nationally in this week's U.S. Rowing / Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division I Varsity Eight Coaches Poll.

Clemson tallied 57 points in the same poll to rank 21st, while neither Iowa nor St. Joseph's received any votes.

"Although we haven't raced against them many times in the past because they are in different regions than we are, we know Iowa and Clemson are both very good teams," said Navy head coach Mike Hughes. "We also expect to have a close race with St. Joseph's.

"Facing three quality teams as we are this weekend will let us know where we stand and how fast our boat really is."

The 2,000-meter, four-lane buoyed course begins near the Spout Run area of the Potomac River with the finish line at Washington Harbour in Georgetown.

While Navy's women's team will race locally for the first time this season, the heavyweight team will travel to Boston to challenge Harvard and Penn in the annual Adams Cup race on the Charles River. The trio of teams first met in 1933 to challenge for the trophy named after Charles Francis Adams, a Harvard graduate and former Secretary of the Navy under President Herbert Hoover.

The results of the varsity race between the teams have been the same in each of the last four meetings -- Harvard in first place, Navy in second and Penn in third. The Crimson, in fact, won each of the five races between the program's last season in Annapolis.

Navy's last victory in the Adams Cup (varsity) race came in 1996, with Penn recording its only victory over the last decade in 1999.

The Crimson are ranked sixth in this week's U.S. Rowing Men's Varsity Eight Collegiate Coaches Poll, with the Mids ranked 12th and the Quakers 15th.

"This is a very historical race and it is always an exciting week for each of the teams," said Navy heavyweight head coach Rick Clothier. "A big unknown for this weekend is the weather. It could really have a hand in determining the outcome of the race."

After opening the season with victories over Yale and George Washington, Navy's varsity boat lost to Princeton last weekend.

Rounding out the racing for the Easter holiday weekend is Navy's lightweight squad, which will take to the waters of the Raritan River in New Brunswick, N.J., Sunday to face Rutgers and Columbia. The Mids topped the Scarlet Knights by three seconds and the Lions by nine seconds when the varsity boats met one year ago.

Navy's varsity boat has split its two races on the season, dropping its race to Princeton two weeks ago and recording a two-second victory over Yale last weekend.