Men's Rowing Races Navy for Walsh Cup Sunday
May 27, 2005 | Men's Rowing
No. 17 Wisconsin attempts to recapture the Buck Walsh Cup from No. 7 Navy when the teams meet Sunday on the Severn River. Navy ended Wisconsin's six-year winning streak when the Midshipmen won the cup last year.
The Walsh cup is named after 1923 Naval Academy graduate, rower and head coach Commander Charles 'Buck' Walsh. The trophy is awarded to the varsity eight winner of the annual race between Wisconsin and the U.S. Naval Academy.
The teams will also battle for the Fisher Cup. That trophy will be awarded to the team totalling the most points in all of Sunday's races. Only the winning boat in each race earns points. The varsity eight race is worth 10 points, the second varsity eight is worth nine points, the freshmen eight is worth eight points, while the varsity four with and without coxswain, the open four and freshmen four are woth four points and the pair is worth two points.
The race for the Walsh Cup has been streaky, with the Badgers holding a 14-13 lead since the event began in 1967. Wisconsin won the first three, followed by a five-year streak for Navy, which included a 10-year period from 1971'80 during which no races were held. The Badgers went on a five-race streak beginning in 1985, which Navy responded with by winning seven straight. Six wins for Wisconsin from 1997 until 2002 have been followed by a Navy victory in 2004 after fog cancelled the 2003 event.
The Badgers and Midshipmen have seen each other in the past two weeks. On May 15, both schools competed at the 2005 Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Regatta. There, the UW varsity eight took 12th, while Navy placed seventh. In the second varsity eight, the UW and Navy finished in a dead heat to the thousandth of a second in the first round and so both advanced to the grand final. There, Wisconsin edged Navy by just over .3 seconds for sixth place. In the freshmen eight, Navy took seventh by 1.3 seconds over Wisconsin, which finished eighth.
Racing will begin Sunday at 7:15 CT with the varsity eight event.
