Successful Weekend for the Fightin’ 150s in Annapolis

This weekend the Delaware lightweights travelled to Annapolis, MD to take on the
United States Naval Academy and the University of Pennsylvania on the Severn River. Racing
took place very early Saturday morning to avoid the rough daytime conditions on the Severn.
Crews raced on mostly flat water with low winds and temperatures in the high 50s.

The first race of the morning was between the second varsity eights. In this race both
Navy’s 2V and 3V pushed away early to take a commanding lead. Behind the Navy boats
Delaware raced hard to try to catch Navy and in the process opened up a sizeable lead on Penn.
Navy’s 2V crossed the line at 6.11.9 with Navy’s 3V 1.1s behind, Delaware 9.2s back and Penn
17.5s off the pace. The second race of the morning was the first frosh eights. In a battle of
unbeatens, Delaware and Penn exchanged seats throughout the race with Navy falling back.
With 250m to go Delaware had a slight advantage and was able to extend this advantage through
the last portion of the race crossing the line at 6.11.8 with Penn 5.5s back, Navy’s second frosh
heavies were 6.9s back and Navy’s frosh lights were 17.5s off the winning pace. The next race of
the day was the first varsity eights. Navy and Penn would be racing for the Callow Cup with
Delaware entered as a guest. In what was certainly the most dramatic finish of the day Delaware
would end up winning the race, but only after race officials convened at length to decide the
official winner. Delaware crossed the line in 6.03.0 only 0.03s ahead of Penn and 6.5s ahead of
Navy. The fourth race pitted the varsity fours against each other. Navy’s A and B fours would
finish 1 and 2 followed by Penn and Delaware. The winning Navy boat would cross the line in
7.01.1 with the second entry 14.3s back, Penn 32.2s back and Delaware 45.9s back. The last
mixed race of the day saw the Delaware and Penn second frosh eights race against the remaining
navy boats. In this race Navy’s 5V composite boat crossed the line in 6.24.7 followed by the
Delaware 2F 9.1s back, Navy’s 3F Heavies 18.6s back and Penn’s 2F 35.3s back.

Ultimately Delaware took 4 of 5 races from Penn and 2 of 5 races from the Midshipmen.
In taking down the #1 ranked Penn frosh lights the Delaware freshman lights remain undefeated
and in the conversation for the best lightweight freshman in the country. Also, this marked the
first time in team history that the Delaware Varsity won a three way race against multiple EARC
opponents. The Fightin’ 150s hope to take this momentum into their last EARC race of the
season as they travel to Princeton next weekend to take on Princeton and Columbia.