Lightweights win Henley, capping magical year

If Mory's ever runs out of cups, there's one team at Yale that could easily replenish their supply: men's lightweight crew. In March, the team won the Secretary of the Navy Cup. In April, they snagged the Joy Cup, the Dodge Cup, the Durand Cup, and the Goldthwaite Cup. In May, they took home the national championship. And, finally, after everyone else was relaxing at home, the Bulldogs won the most meaningful cup of all, the Temple Challenge Cup at crew racing's equivalent of the Superbowl—the Henley Royal Regatta. The varsity lightweight crew's 2000 season was a fairy tale: heroic wins, an arch nemesis to avenge, and, of course, a happy ending. Winning race after race, they proved why they deserved to be atop the national rankings.

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY Yale's lightweight entrants to the Henley royal Regatta were the most successful in 25 years.

The team wasn't lacking in formidable opponents. Their near-perfect season received its one blemish when Columbia edged them out of the Eastern Association of Rowing College Sprints, winning by a mere 0.11 seconds. However, the loss served only to refuel the fire of the lightweight team. As coxswain Stephen Cheng, JE '01, said, the team "refocused on [their] strengths," when they would again face Columbia, and the rest of the nation's best, at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship (IRAs).

The IRAs were as tightly contested as the Eastern Sprints. At the halfway point Harvard led Yale, and the rest of the field, by a half a boat length. Yale overcame the deficit to cross the line, at virtually the same time as Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard. The four boats finished within a split second of each other. "We crossed the line and no one knew who had won," Cheng said. This time, though, it was Yale who just beat out the competitors to win the national championship. As Head Coach Andy Card said of his team's feelings going into the race, "We hitched up our pants, rolled up our sleeves and went on to win the IRAs and become national champions."

Hitching up those pants must have been exceedingly comfortable, as the team wasn't satisfied with simply being the best American collegiate team. One month later—at the end of June—the team traveled to England to race the best men's crew teams from all over the world at the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.

The Temple Chal-lenege Cup is the World Cup of crew racing. Getting to Henley is what every college crew team works towards. Winning the Temple Challenge Cup is what every college crew dreams of. For many crew teams making it to Henley would have been enough, but for the Yale men and their coaches there was no settling for second.

The odds were stack-ed against them. Unlike most college races, the Henley includes lightweight teams and heavyweight teams. The lightweight team would have to beat teams that were both bigger and stronger than them. On top of that, Yale's crew was rowing on a course that they had never faced before.

Overcoming fatigue and exhaustion from traveling, the Yale men went out on Thurs., Jun. 29 and won their first race, winning again the next day against heavyweight opponents. Captain Andrew Morley, JE '01, believes there were two people who were integral to their success those first few days of races, one of whom was his head coach; "Card did a fantastic job of keeping the trip fun, yet keeping us focused," he said. Morley also credited Cheng, "[He] was basically flawless. He was calmer than I thought humanly possible."

By Saturday, the second to last day of the Henley Royal Regatta, only Columbia, stood in the way of the finals. John Logsdon, SM '01, explained, "For us, as college rowers, [Henley] is the pinnacle of it all. Having Columbia there made it more crucial for us to be on our game." As it turned out, the Bulldog men weren't just on their game, they were all over it, defeating Columbia by one-half of a boat length.

The Elis weighed an average of 166 lbs., but faced Oxford Brookes in the finals, a team whose eight averaged 196 lbs. With confidence in their strength, the Yale men beat Oxford Brookes, and won the most coveted rowing cup of them all. Morley was ecstatic about the victory, "It was kind of a shock, but we weren't prepared to lose."

To put the team's success in perspective, Yale's victory is the first time that a collegiate lightweight crew team had won any race at Henley since 1974. Cheng exulted, "Henley was the most tremendous experience. From the first day of rowing as a freshman it has been our goal to get there." The Yale men didn't just get there, they got there and took over. Card added, "What the guys achieved was remarkable. America has sent a lot of lightweight crews [to Henley] that were never able to achieve what Yale did."

Back to Sports...