PRINCETON, N.J. -- In their season debut at the neutral site of Lake Carnegie in Princeton, New Jersey, the Yale lightweight varsity eight narrowly defeated Navy to defend the Eads Johnson Jr. Cup for an 11th consecutive year, while additional victories in the 4V, 3V and 2V races allowed Yale to take back the Jon Van Amringe Cup.
 
Ending the day in reverse order, the battle for the Johnson Cup began at 5:20 p.m. and delivered an instant classic as both crews exchanged blows over the entirety of the 2000m distance, with the result being decided in the dying seconds of the race. Off the start, the Midshipmen edged their bow ball past Yale's by only a seat. As the eights crossed the midway point, Navy had extended its lead to about half a length, but over the second half Yale kept coming back but could not quite pull even until a final sprint effort secured the victory by a mere half of a second. Both crews nearly matched the Lake Carnegie lightweight course record of 5:34.
 
"Just when you thought this regatta could not get more intense and exciting, it did," commented Y150 Alumni Head Coach of Lightweight Crew Andrew Card. "At the end of the varsity race, we were fortunate to find ourselves on the right end of the result but only just."
 
Prior to the varsity eight barn burner, the Yale JV had a dogfight of their own. At 5:00 p.m., the two Blue crews blasted out of the stake boats but remained dead even. After multiple small lead exchanges throughout the first half of the race, the Bulldogs made a strong push and emerged victorious with a time of 5:47.6 over Navy's 5:50.6, clinching the number of points necessary for Yale to retake the Van Amringe Cup.
 
In the 3V and 4V races respectively, Yale overtook Navy at the start and controlled the lead through the finish line, fighting off multiple charges from the Midshipmen. The Yale 3V finished with a time of 5:50.2, while the Yale 4V clocked in at 6:00.1.

This afternoon's racing kicked off at 4:00 p.m. with the fifth varsity eights, in which the Mids won with a time of 6:04.9.

Below are the official results of Saturday afternoon's jampacked slate of lightweight racing:

1V:
Yale 5:35.5
Navy 5:36.0
 
2V:
Yale 5:47.6
Navy 5:50.6
 
3V:
Yale 5:50.2
Navy 5:55.4
 
4V:
Yale 6:00.1
Navy 6:01.7
 
5V:
Navy 6:04.9
Yale 6:15.0
 
The Y150 will now return to Derby for a three-week homestand, beginning with the Georgetown Hoyas on Apr. 8.