Lions’ Heavyweight Rowing Scores Historic Victories Over Yale, Navy

This weekend was filled with exciting moments for the Columbia heavyweight rowing team, as the Lions brought two prestigious cups back home after a long absence. The first, the Blackwell Cup, came by defeating Yale and Penn for the first time in 67 years and the Maxwell Stephenson Cup was earned for the first time in 45 years as the Light Blue downed Navy. The lightweight team did not fare as well as its fellow rowers but was still able to have a strong showing.

The heavyweight team had a historic weekend, which started with an impressive win on Saturday against Yale and Penn. The Blackwell Cup is viewed as one of the most prestigious cups in collegiate rowing, and the Lions are now its proud owners after an intense race. The Lions faced off against two top teams, notably Yale.

From the start, it was apparent that the race would be an exhilarating one. The three teams were off with energy. Yale was ahead of both Columbia and Penn, but the Lions were not discouraged. The Light Blue tried to gain ground on the turn, but Yale was able to hold them off. The race was still neck and neck in the third quarter of the 2,000-meter race with Yale in first followed by Columbia and then Penn. Going into the last leg of the race, the Light Blue was able to pick up the intensity to drive and gain on Yale. The Bulldogs and Lions were even. Columbia, in the closing seconds, pulled ahead of Yale and crossed the finish line, besting the Elis by 1.2 seconds. The Lions had won the Blackwell cup, something they had not done in 67 years. After its victory on Saturday, Columbia looked to continue its winning ways on Sunday as it competed against Navy for the Maxwell Stevenson Cup.

The Lions, who could have been fatigued from Saturday, came out strong on Sunday in the first 1,000 meters. The Midshipmen, however, tried not let the race get out of hand, and Navy was able to get its bow even with Columbia’s stern. Despite several more attempts to get within reach of the Lions, the Midshipmen were unable to catch up, and the Light Blue would prevail and return the cup to New York for the first time since the Kennedy administration.

The lightweight team traveled to Derby, Conn. to face off against Yale and Penn for the Dodge Cup. Yale started off strong and was unreachable for the entirety of the race, finishing in a time of 5:47.72, 7.3 seconds faster than Columbia’s second-place time. Although the Lions finished behind the Bulldogs, they were able to come out on top of the Quakers, beating them by 2.5 seconds. The Light Blue freshman squad also finished in second with a time of 5.59.40, which was five seconds behind the winning time placed by Yale.

This weekend proved to be one of the most exciting in the history of the Columbia men’s heavyweight team. Next weekend, both teams will be back in action and looking for more hardware to put in the trophy cases. The heavyweights will be heading to Syracuse, N.Y. to compete against the Orange and Boston University for the Doc Lusins trophy, while the lightweight squad will compete in two regattas next weekend. On Saturday, it will face off against top ranked Cornell and MIT. On Sunday, it will race for the Subin Cup against Dartmouth.