Weekly sports roundup: heavyweight crew claims Blackwell Cup

As part of a generally strong week for Yale athletics, the men's heavyweight crew  defeated both Penn and Columbia on Saturday morning to claim the Blackwell Cup for the fifth year in a row. The second varsity was the Bulldogs' only boat that did not cross the finish line first. The team's varsity remains undefeated this season.

In other sports news this week (information from Yale Sports Publicity):

In its first-ever meeting with Michigan, Yale's No. 11 men's lacrosse team emerged victorious 13–7. Conrad Oberbeck ’15 had a career-high six goals and eight points. Although the Bulldogs did not compete in conference play this weekend, the results of various Ivy games have guaranteed a spot for Yale in the Ivy League Tournament, which will take place in two weeks.

After finishing as runner-up for two years in a row, the No. 1 women's sailing team claimed the 2014 New England Championship this weekend. The Bulldogs won by 18 points over Boston College, which took the championship title in 2012 and 2013. Although the victory does not automatically earn the Bulldogs a spot in the national competition, it does qualify them for the ICSA Semifinal Championship.

The No. 2 coed sailing team, meanwhile, had another packed weekend. The Bulldogs completed their regular season after placing third at the Boston Dinghy Cup hosted by MIT and seventh at the Greater New York Open at Fordham. Each Yale boat took top-four in its division.

Racing against Dartmouth and MIT on Saturday, the men's lightweight crew bounced back from its defeat last weekend and retained the Durand Cup and the Joy Cup. The weather was good, and most of Yale's crews made solid times in the final meet. The team takes on Harvard and Princeton this weekend.

Two double-headers against Harvard proved only to be a minor obstacle for the men's baseball team this weekend: the Bulldogs (17–19, 9–7 Ivy) lost only the first game with a score of 6–2, but went on to win the three others with scores of 8–2, 1–0, and 7–6. The team also beat Sacred Heart 5–2 earlier in the week.

Although Princeton clinched the Ivy title this weekend with a 7–0 record, Yale's No. 49 women's tennis team, the defending Ivy champion team, is still playing hard. This weekend, the Bulldogs defeated Dartmouth and No. 47 Harvard, both with scores of 5–2.

Hosting the first annual Mark Young Invitational, the men's track and field team competed against several regional schools including Brown, Columbia, and Dartmouth—and the results were good. The Bulldogs came in sixth place with 42 points. The Big Green took first with 175.70 points.

The women's track and field team also competed in the Mark Young Invitational, finishing 4th, with 98.33 points, among the 11 schools represented. Dartmouth also took first, but by a far smaller margin: the Big Green won with 113.50 points. Mackenzie Mathews ’16 broke her own school record with her time of 14.43 in the 100-meter hurdels, and Karleh Wilson ’16 broke her record as well with her 14.59m shot put.

Competing in the Yale Spring Invitational, the men's golf team made its third straight second-place performance, and its second-straight finish behind Harvard. The Bulldogs made a 586 overall, while the Crimson took the title with 573 over 36 holes. Yale finished nine strokes clear of the rest of the competitors, which included Brown, Central Connecticut, Fordham, Holy Cross, UMass-Lowell, and Wagner.

With just one game remaining in this year's Ivy competition, the men's tennis team currently sits in 7th place with its 1–5 record, second only to Brown, which has not won any conference matches this season. The Bulldogs fell to No. 41 Dartmouth 4–0 and No. 34 Harvard 7–0 this week.

Although its varsity four team narrowly defeated No. 7 Princeton, Yale's No. 11 women's crew was unable to secure the Eisenberg Cup this weekend. Next weekend, the Bulldogs will host Harvard.

Cornell held off the women's lacrosse team this weekend by a score of 8–7. Still, midfielder Christina Doherty ’15 had six ground balls and five caused turnovers, while midfielder Erin Magnuson ’15 had three goals and an assist. With its victory, Cornell secured a spot in the Ivy tournament. The Bulldogs' last game of the season will take place this weekend.

Ivy League play has not been kind to the women's softball team. Losing its 10th straight match this weekend, the team has only won one of 16 league games. This week, the Bulldogs lost two double-headers against Harvard with scores of 5–0, 6–2, 11–3, and 7–5, and also fell to Sacred Heart 5–3 on Wednesday.