DERBY, Conn. – What a race! In a season of close varsity racing, the Yale lightweight 1V had another barn-burner all the way to the finish line at Derby Saturday.

This time it was the Elis who fell on the other side of the line, by about the length of a bow ball. Officially it was Columbia by 0.1 seconds over Yale, with Penn only 1.1 seconds back.

When the Yale varsity eight locked into the stakeboats for this highly anticipated matchup against undefeated Penn and national champion Columbia, the gathered crowd at Gilder Boathouse knew they were in for a treat.

And the three crews did not disappoint, as all remained within five seats of each other off the line in the first 750 meters. At the 1000, the crews were nearly dead even with all three crews refusing to give an inch to their opposition. Crossing through with 750m to go, Columbia had emerged with a narrow lead, but Penn and Yale remained in contention for the victory. In the final sprint, Yale overtook Penn and cut down Columbia's advantage to pull virtually even. The Gilder roar rose as Yale and Columbia crossed the line, and after a long delay the photo finish revealed it to be the Lions who won the 2023 Dodge Cup.

"What a classic EARC lightweight race! It's one that will be talked about for a long time. Truly appreciative of all the crews out there today", said Y150 Alumni Head Coach of Lightweight Crew Andy Card, "Columbia has six guys returning from their IRA crew of last year, and for us to be that close after the week we've had is a real testament to our guys and I'm proud of their effort. Clearly we have some work to do, but I have no doubt we're eager to do it."

In the first contest between eights, the Yale third varsity eight put on a strong performance in path to victory. Out of the stake boats, Yale took the lead, with Penn trailing Columbia. Before the turn, Columbia made a strong effort to overtake Yale, but the Bulldogs effectively fended off the Lions through the turn and expanded their margin in the latter half of the race for a commanding victory. Columbia finished in second, followed by Penn in third.

In the final race of the day, the junior varsity race took off at 11:00 a.m. following an hour delay due to breakage. Mirroring their peers in the varsity race for the Dodge Cup, the junior varsity eights also delivered a close race, culminating a spectacular day of EARC lightweight racing. Off the start, Yale took seats to gain a narrow advantage off Columbia and Penn, but a strong move by Columbia through the midway point of the race allowed the Lions to take the lead. In the latter half of the race, Penn pushed ahead of Yale and challenged Columbia. The Bulldogs responded with a strong sprint effort to take seats back from the Quakers but ultimately came up short in a third-place finish behind Penn, who trailed winning Columbia. Columbia's win in the 2V gave Columbia a 32- 31 win in the Colgan Cup over Yale, with Penn in third with 24 points in the team points contest.

The first race of the day featured a battle of coxed fours between two Yale crews and Penn. Yale 'A' took the lead off the start, with their peers in Yale 'B' following closely behind. Yale 'A' held their margin and controlled the race to victory, followed by Yale 'B' in second and Penn in third.

The results from this Saturday's intense racing can be found below.

1V
Columbia 5:58.3
Yale 5:58.4
Penn 5:59.4
 
2V
Columbia 6:11.8
Penn 6:13.9
Yale 6:14.5
3V
Yale 5:57.5
Columbia 6:03.4
Penn 6:08.5
 
4V 4+
Yale 'A' 6:38.9
Yale 'B' 6:39.8
Penn 7:04.0
 
The lineups for Yale can be found below.
 
1V
Bow     Dylan Oberst / Greenwich, Conn.
2          Raphael Berz / Toronto, Ont.
3          Timothy Parsons / Eugene, Ore.
4          John McDonald / Garden City, N.Y.
5          Jamie Patterson / Lincoln, Mass.
6          Ryan Vaughn / Moraga, Calif.
7          Michael Steinthal / Greenwich, Conn.
Stroke   Itai Almogy / Pao Alto, Calif.
Cox      Magdalena Moore / Winthrop, Wash.
 
2V
Bow     Enrico Pradines / Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.
2          John Plumeri / Long Island, N.Y.
3          Andres Garcia-Chacon / Coral Gables, Fla.
4          Maximilian Dewolf / Washington, D.C.
5          Andrew Griesinger / Princeton, N.J.
6          Constantine Polychronopoulos / London, England
7          Thomas Monaghan / London, England
Stroke  James Casemore / Farnham, England
Cox      Clarisa Merkatz / Farmington, Conn.
 
3V
Bow     Jamie Sudlow / London, England
2          Devin Seli / Woodbridge, Conn.
3          Will Konopka / Philadelphia, Penn.
4          John Cahill / Los Angeles, Calif.
5          Andrew Kasparyan / Southborough, Mass.
6          Michael Linquata / Berwyn, Penn.
7          Martin Vakoc / Prague, Czech Republic
Stroke   Angus Stevenson / London, England
Cox      Jackie Weyerhauser / Minneapolis, Minn.

Yale 'A'
Bow      Eddie Cavallin / Washington, D.C.
2            Alexander Judelson / Manhattan, N.Y.
3            Matthew Murphy / Portland, Ore.
Stroke   Paden Nichols / Des Moines, Wash.
Cox        Fanny Zhang / Ossining N.Y.
 
Yale 'B'
Bow      Andy Yang / Los Angeles, Calif.
2            Seth Moyer / Toronto, Ont.
3            Nolan Kaputa / Princeton, N.J.
Stroke   Blake Weyerhauser / Minneapolis, Minn.
Cox        Akshay Khunte / Higganum, Conn.
 
The Y150 will now look ahead to their final home race of the season against the Dartmouth Big Green for the Durand Cup.