PHILADELPHIA – The No. 2 Big Red men's lightweight varsity eight passed an early test, as it defeated Penn and Harvard – both ranked fifth in the latest IRA/USRowing Collegiate Poll – this morning on the Schuylkill River. Cornell (5:38.2) beat the Quakers to the line by exactly two seconds (5:40.2) to earn its 25th consecutive Matthews Trophy, with the Crimson finishing just under four seconds off the pace (5:42.0).
 
The Big Red also earned its eighth consecutive Leonard Points Cup, awarded to the winner of the majority of the eight races. Harvard rows as a guest and is not eligible for either the Matthew Trophy or the Leonard Cup.  
 
The day began with a pair of wins by Harvard in both the fourth and third varsity eight races. Penn crossed the line ahead of Cornell in the fourth varsity eight to give the Quakers the early edge in the Leonard Cup, but the Big Red pulled even when it finished ahead of Penn in the third varsity eight.  
 
The Quakers won the second varsity eight race to set up a winner-takes-all battle for the Leonard Cup, which Cornell won by virtue of its victory in the varsity eight. The Crimson finished third in the final two races of the day.

COACH'S CORNER – CHRIS KERBER
A classic morning of Cup racing on the near perfect conditions on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The Quakers, led by Colin Farrell '05, delivered very savvy racing tactics in their top crews building early momentum out of the blocks and continued over the 2k race course. The Crimson, led by Bill Boyce '08, showed big depth of program and just raw racing across the board. 

We had mixed results with our four crews but the highlight of the events was the first varsity eight crews all racing dead even for nearly the first third of the race - not one foot separated first to third off the blocks and into the turn under Strawberry Mansion Bridge. As lanes straightened into the final half of racing, the Big Red worked to get the lead and continued to increase the margin to the finish line.

Such a great group of Cornell fans were in attendance for the AM racing.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red will play host to No. 1 Princeton on Saturday, April 13 to race for the Platt Cup on the Cayuga Lake Inlet.
 
RESULTS 
Varsity Eight
Cornell – 5:38.2
Penn – 5:40.2
Harvard – 5:42.0
 
Second Varsity Eight
Penn – 5:45.9
Cornell – 5:48.1
Harvard – 6:01.7
 
Third Varsity Eight
Harvard – 5:49.5
Cornell – 5:55.1
Penn – 5:58.5
 
Fourth Varsity Eight
Harvard – 5:57.5
Penn – 5:59.9
Harvard 5V – 6:00.6
Cornell – 6:14.0