#4 Men’s Lightweight Rowing Wins 17th Jope Cup
The #4 Princeton University men's lightweight rowing team won the Jope Cup Championship for the 17th time in program history Sunday at Lake Quinsigamond at Eastern Sprints.
lede photo — rowing (m)Princeton University Athletics
#4 Men’s Lightweight Rowing Wins 17th Jope Cup
May 17, 2026 | Men's Rowing - Lightweight
Full Results**WORCESTER, Mass. –**The #3 Princeton University men's lightweight rowing team won the Jope Cup Championship for the 17th time in program history Sunday at Lake Quinsigamond at Eastern Sprints. The Jope Cup triumph comes in
Matt Smith's first season as Head Coach of the Tigers.
The Jope Cup is awarded to the team with the highest combined point total. The Tigers finished with 35.00 points ahead of #1 Harvard (34.00), the #2 University of Pennsylvania (33.00), #7 Georgetown (21.00), #9 Navy (19.00), #8 Dartmouth (18.00), #5 Yale (15.00), #6 Cornell (13.00), #3 MIT (10.00) and #10 Columbia (9.00). Princeton has a strong tradition of postseason success, also winning the Jope Cup in 2023, 2010, 2003, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1990, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983 and 1981.
The 3V won gold and both the 1V and 2V won silver on a day that saw the Tigers put together a complete team performance.
"What a day for the Princeton lights," said Smith. "We stand on the shoulders of those before us and take inspiration from what happened this season with all four Princeton rowing teams. The team set the goal of winning the Jope Cup on day one. Today everyone stepped up and performed on and off the water. We will take another 24 hours to celebrate this and then we get to work for the IRA. Huge thanks to Palmer our trainer, Rich our strength coach, Steve the boatman and Leah in the boathouse. Coach Burke continues to crush it!"
While it was Smith's first Eastern Sprints as head coach, it was
Adam Casler'sfinal Eastern Sprints as coxswain of the 1V, a role he's had since his freshman year. Casler also added a second Jope Cup victory to his list of career accolades.
"It was a fantastic day for Princeton," said Casler. "After finishing our heat, we got to watch both the 1V and 2V of the open women win gold at their Ivy League Championship in Cherry Hill, so the Princeton train started rolling early. Going into the final, after watching our 3V win and the 2V just miss out on the gold, I was positive we needed at least silver to win the Jope. We had a solid performance in the heat and knew we had an opportunity to really assert ourselves in the final. I was very pleased to see us breakaway from the field in the second half of the race and continue to close the gap on Harvard. We may not have come away with the gold today, but we played our part to win the Jope Cup for the second time in four years. To start and end my Princeton rowing career by taking home the Jope at Sprints is very special and shows how big of an impact the Class of 2026 had on this team. I'm proud to be a Tiger."
The 3V, who won gold, also won the Gary Kilpatrick Trophy, which is named after the longtime Princeton coach. The Tigers crossed the finish line in 6:09.293 and finished ahead of Penn (6:13.639), Harvard (6:18.767), Navy (6:22.053), Georgetown (6:26.969) and Yale (6:31.265).
Lazslo Wenk, who sat in the stroke seat for the 3V, was grateful for the opportunity to bring the Gary Kilpatrick Trophy back to Princeton in a race he felt optimistic about, but aware of the tough competition the Tigers would face.
"We were pretty confident going into the race as the top seeded 3V and knew that Penn would put up a strong fight off the start," proclaimed Wenk. "Through the middle thousand we settled into a comfortable yet aggressive pace, opening the margin on the field. Going into the last 500 we continued to push our bow ball forward, finishing 4.5 seconds up on second place. I'm incredibly proud of all the guys and girl I've been racing with who have been diligent and supportive this year; it was incredible to cap off the season and my senior year with bringing home the Gary Kilpatrick Trophy for the first time since 2018 as well as the Jope Cup."
Like the 1V, the 2V also won silver after punching a ticket to the Grand Final during the morning session. Princeton (5:55.449) came in second with Penn (5:55.067) earning the win and Harvard (5:55.579) finishing third, Georgetown (6:05.717) fourth, Navy (6:08.857) fifth and Dartmouth (6:10.293) sixth.
Liam Dooley, who raced on the 2V, acknowledged the depth and competitive nature of the team as being in key in winning the Jope Cup.
"Very excited to bring back the Jope Cup for the team today," said Dooley. "The trophy takes everyone to be at their best to win. It's the rising tide of the guys on land pushing the 4V to pushing the 3V to pushing the 2V to pushing the 1V. We've seen in this league how hard it is to win so we can't take these things for granted. Onto the big one at IRAs in two weeks."
After finishing second in their heat to the Crimson, the 1V earned a spot in the Grand Final. The Tigers (5:48.295) came in a close second behind Harvard (5:466.779) and ahead of Dartmouth (5:51.831), the Quakers (5:51.885), Cornell (5:51.951) and MIT (5:54.043).
The V4+ (7:24.348) came in fourth in a race thaw saw Columbia (6:57.679) earn the win followed by MIT (7:14.050) and the Big Green (7:15.716).
Up Next
The Tigers wrap up the season at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships in Sacramento, California, from May 29-31.
Lineups
1V
Bow
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Cox
2V
Bow
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Cox
3V
Bow
2
3
4
5
6
7
7
8
Cox
V4+
Bow
2
3
4
Cox
Players Mentioned
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