WORCESTER, Mass. — The Cornell men's lightweight rowing team finished second in the 1VL8 Grand Final and took third place in the Jope Cup standings for the third consecutive year at the annual Eastern Sprints regatta on Lake Quinsigamond Sunday afternoon.

The Big Red varsity crew medaled in the 1VL8 race for the first time since 2017, when it achieved its third victory in a four-year span. Since 1995, when the top three-placing crews were awarded medals, Cornell has earned nine medals in the varsity eight race, including five gold, one silver, and three bronze.

Harvard won the Joseph Wright Trophy and was crowned Ivy League champions for a second consecutive season after sweeping the top three varsity races, marking the Crimson's first time repeating as champions since winning three straight titles between 2011 and 2013. The Crimson also secured the Jope Cup for a record 23rd time, marking its first win since 2017.

The Crimson completed the 2000-meter course in 5:46.739, finishing 2.546 seconds faster than Big Red's time of 5:49.285, which represented a 1.491-second improvement from its heat time of 5:48.230. Cornell improved its time from the heat by 4.739 seconds, finishing with a time of 5:54.024.

Rounding out the podium for the 1VL8 race was Princeton, which crossed the finish line 3.508 seconds after Cornell, marking the Tigers' third consecutive year medaling in the event after winning gold in 2023 and bronze in 2024. This was Princeton's first time medaling in three straight 1VL8 events at Eastern Sprints since earning bronze in three consecutive events between 2014 and 2016.

With its second-place finish in the 3VL8 race, Princeton (30 points) edged Cornell (29 points) by one point for second in the Jope Cup standings and was nine points behind first-place Harvard (39 points).

Joining Cornell's 1VL8 crew in registering a podium finish was the Big Red's 4VL8, who also earned silver after clocking a time of 6:17.796, crossing the finish line 5.322 seconds after Navy (6:12.474). Penn (6:19.202), Navy's 5VL8 (6:22.598), and Princeton (6:23.778) rounded out the five-crew field.

Completing the Big Red's quartet of crews in the regatta were the 3VL8 and 4VL8, which finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in their grand final races.

JOPE CUP STANDINGS
1. Harvard – 39 points
2. Princeton – 30 points
3. Cornell – 29 points
4. Penn – 28 points
5. Yale – 18 points
6. Georgetown – 17 points
7. Navy – 16 points
8. Columbia – 15 points
9. Dartmouth – 13 points
10. MIT – 11 points

RESULTS
1VL8 Heat #2: 1. Cornell – 5:54.024; 2. Penn – 5:57.320; 3. MIT – 5:58.578; 4. Yale – 5:58.956; 5. Columbia – 6:10.409.
 
2VL8 Heat #2: 1. Penn – 5:58.387; 2. Yale – 6:02.115; 3. Cornell – 6:03.485; 4. Dartmouth – 6:07.447; 5. MIT – 6:22.273
 
3VL8 Heat #2: 1. Princeton – 6:05.037; 2. Cornell – 6:06.159; 3. Georgetown – 6:12.973; 4. Yale – 6:28.591.
 
FINALS RESULTS
1VL8 Grand Final: 1. Harvard – 5:46.739; 2. Cornell – 5:49.285; 3. Princeton – 5:52.793; 4. Penn – 5:54.747; 5. Dartmouth – 5:55.315; 6. MIT – 5:59.863.
 
2VL8 Grand Final: 1. Harvard – 5:52.902; 2. Penn – 5:56.578; 3. Yale – 5:58.214; 4. Princeton – 6:00.286; 5. Cornell – 6:03.312; 6. Columbia – 6:04.267.
 
3VL8 Grand Final: 1. Harvard – 6:08.208; 2. Princeton – 6:12.258; 3. Navy – 6:14.020; 4. Cornell – 6:15.492; 5. Penn – 6:15.648; 6. Georgetown – 6:20.548.
 
4VL8 Grand Final: 1. Navy 4V8 – 6:12.474; 2. Cornell – 6:17.796; 3. Penn – 6:19.202; 4. Navy 5V8 – 6:22.598; 5. Princeton – 6:23.778.
 
BOATINGS:
1VL8: Aden Walsey (coxswain), Jack Savell (stroke), Emmett Patterson, Andrew Hohlt, Nathan Bechard, Grant Smith, Peter Albrecht, Sam Alston, Eliott Swinney (bow).
 
2VL8: Amanda Johnson (coxswain), Colin Bailey (stroke), Patrick Reilly, Owen Brown, Steven Busby, Gabe Xu, Eric Genden, Jonathan Mayer, Calder Fritz (bow).
 
3VL8: Joycelyn Vu (coxswain), Luke Zaslow (stroke), Tomas Eliot Foxley, Rahil Dundon, Sebastian El Hadj, John Zegger, Teddy Holtman, Jack Oliveira, Maximilian Purcea (bow).
 
4VL8: Mia Goldstein (coxswain), Matteo Calalang (stroke), Tyler Forg, Ryan Aghazadeh, Tanas Kazlas, David Soucie-Garza, Charles Irwin, William Fang, Michael Phelps (bow).