<p>For Immediate Release
Sent Saturday, April 26, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772</p>
<p>Harvard Retains Adams Cup Over Navy and Penn</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Navy’s varsity boat could not recover from a slow start as the Mids placed second to Harvard in a race between the heavyweight rowing programs from the two schools and Penn, Saturday on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. </p>
<p>“We’ve worked on improving our starts all year, but another poor one today hurt us,” said Navy head coach Rick Clothier.</p>
<p>The Mids fell behind the Crimson at the start of the race, which allowed the Harvard entry to take a one-half of a boat length lead 600 meters into the contest. The two boats jockeyed back-and-forth over the next 800 meters with neither able to sustain any kind of gain. A few miss-strokes by the Mids down the stretch enabled Harvard to win by just under one boat length.</p>
<p>Harvard posted a winning time of 5:35.1, Navy placed second with a time of 5:38.7 and Penn followed in third place with a time of 5:49.9.</p>
<p>The victory in the varsity race allows Harvard to maintain possession of the Adams Cup for the eighth-straight year, with the Mids finishing in second place in each of the last six meetings. Saturday’s margin of 3.6 seconds between the two crews was a noticeable contrast to the 8.3-second win posted by the Crimson one year ago.</p>
<p>“I’m very proud of our crew,” said Clothier. “After the start we were even with Harvard over the next three-quarters of the course. Harvard won the Eastern Sprints and finished third at the IRA National Championship last year, so we have shown a great deal of improvement from where we were at a year ago.”</p>
<p>The Crimson also won each of the remaining three races contested on the day, with the Mids placing second in each race.</p>
<p>Navy’s varsity boat will now travel to Seattle to compete against defending IRA champion and current No. 1-ranked Washington on May 3. The remaining Navy boats will face Columbia on May 4.</p>
<p>First Varsity (Adams Cup Race)
Harvard, 5:35.1; Navy, 5:38.7; Penn, 5:49.9
Second Varsity
Harvard, 5:42.6; Navy, 6:01.8; Penn, 6:04.1
First Freshman
Harvard, 5:43.8; Navy, 5:58.0; Penn, 6:04.1
Second Freshman
Harvard, 5:58.6; Navy, 6:06.2</p>