Newly Minted No. 1 Lightweight Rowing Faces Navy for WIT Cup
4/8/2016 2:23:00 PM | Lightweight Rowing
NEW YORK – The Columbia lightweight rowing varsity eight is the new No. 1 team in the latest USRowing Poll. The Lions are set to take on No. 8 Navy this Saturday at Overpeck Park for the WIT Cup.
Columbia topped Princeton for the fifth consecutive time in the varsity eight to vault to the top of the rankings last weekend. The Lions have won seven of their last eight regular season competitions dating back to the spring of 2014.
The Midshipmen have opened the season with losses to No. 3 Princeton and No. 4 Yale their first two weeks with competition versus the third and fourth-best teams in the nation.
The WIT (Whatever It Takes) 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.
In 2015, Navy and Columbia faced off as part of a three-team meet with Princeton on Lake Carnegie. The Lions won the WIT Cup with a time of 6:35.2 in the first varsity competition.
Follow @columbiarowing on Twitter and check GoColumbiaLions.com for updates.
Saturday's Projected Racing Schedule
Due to anticipated poor conditions race times have changed to the following:
7:24 a.m. – Varsity Eight
7:48 a.m. - Second Varsity Eight
8:12 a.m. - Third Varsity Eight (Navy will race a varsity four)
Projected Boatings
Varsity Eight
Cox; Yih Jen Ku, Stroke; Ben Landis, 7; David Mottola, 6; Colin Ross, 5; John Maloney, 4; Jansen Carlgren, 3; Will Solberg, 2; Oliver Ingram, Bow; Jeff Monahan
Second Varsity Eight
Cox; Dan Hong, Stroke; Harrison Vincent, 7; Petros Krommidas, 6; Alan Blasser, 5; Sebastian Krappe, 4; George Patterson, 3; Conor Murphy, 2; Andrew Bartholomew, Bow; Colm Smith
Third Varsity Eight
Cox; Bella Zionts, Stroke; Jeffrey Hou, 7; Justin Bae, 6; Francois Gouws, 5; Daniel Puttman, 4; Lorenzo Frati, 3; Brooks Ralph, 2; Gage Holzhauer, Bow; Ben Boccara
