Plenty at Stake in Sunday’s Packard Cup Race

Syracuse is at Dartmouth this Sunday for a race that, a week or so ago, some people probably thought of as a nice diversion for the Orange between the Eastern Sprints and the I.R.A. That was before the 12th-seeded Big Green smoked the field in last Sunday morning’s heat, knocking off top seed Brown and leaving #6 SU and #7 Northeastern in the Petite Final. Dartmouth wound up fifth in the Grand Final, just behind Wisconsin.

The performance jumped Dartmouth from #15 to #7 in the USRowing Collegiate Poll as SU slipped from sixth to number ten. This Sunday the Big Green will be out to prove it was no fluke and will get to do it at home on the fast-flowing Connecticut River. It’s worth noting that the CMax rankings still have SU .8 second ahead of Dartmouth.

“All the credit to those guys for a brilliant race,” SU Coach Dave Reischman said in an email to SU Crew supporters this week. “We knew they were fast and would be a factor in the first 1,000 meters but their second 1,000 was just as gutsy and they were not letting anyone back in the race. I have never seen a #12 seed knock off a #1 in a heat.”

The result this Sunday is likely to have an effect on the I.R.A seeding too.

50th Anniversary, 50th Packard Cup Race – Winning in Streaks

(Captain Martin Etem holds Packard Trophy after SU's 2009 win at home)

Usually the 50th anniversary of event marks the 51st time it has happened but that’s not the case this year for the Packard Cup because the event was cancelled in 1987. Anthony Ladd commissioned the Packard Cup in 1959 to honor his father-in-law, Edward N. Packard (SU class of 1906). Packard was the stroke of the 1904 varsity eight, the first SU crew to capture an IRA championship. The sterling silver cup is awarded annually to the winner of the Syracuse-Dartmouth race.

Syracuse won the first one in 1960 and the next six as well before MIT, which also was included for a number of years broke through in 1967. SU won again in 1968 before Dartmouth finally took it in 1969 and then won again the next two years.

MIT took the next four (1972-75), SU three straight and then Dartmouth one.
The Orange then took control, winning ten in a row from 1980 through 1990 (with 1987 cancelled.)

Not to be outdone Dartmouth won the next 15 years until Dave Reischman’s guys finally got the cup back in 2006. They’ve now made it four in a row.

Syracuse has won the cup 25 times to Dartmouth’s 19 and MIT’s five.

All that probably is less important to the eight oarsmen and a coxswain in the two shells, who’ll race this Sunday morning than just trying to beat each other. This time they’ll go at it without the distractions of Brown, Northeastern or anybody else. And it’s not likely anybody paying attention will see it as a nice diversion between the Eastern Sprints and the I.R.A.

Polls courtesy of row2k.com

Packard Cup history courtesy of suathletics.com