Courtesy: Tom Nowak The Princeton men's lightweights completed a perfect regular season by winning the Goldthwait Cup.

The Princeton men's lightweights will enter the 2009 EARC Championships as the top seed after completing a perfect regular season Saturday with victories over both No. 2 Harvard and No. 4 Yale. The Tigers have now won 13 straight races and retained the Goldthwait Cup, which they hadn't won from 2000 through 2007.

Princeton navigated through its perfect regular season by topping two major contenders for both postseason championships on the Housatonic River Saturday. The Tigers won the first varsity race in 5:47.5, while previously unbeaten Harvard finished second in 5:52.7. Yale, which spent most of the season ranked second in the national poll, placed third in 5:57.2.

While the first varsity win earned Princeton the Goldthwait Cup, the Vogel Cup (team points) was retained by Yale. The Bulldogs won the remaining race in the regatta, including three others that featured a Princeton boat. The Yale 2V won its race in 5:56.5, while Princeton placed third in 6:01.3; the Bulldog 3V finished in 5:59.1, while Princeton, forced to use an extra heavyweight oarsman because of injury, placed third in 6:19.0. The Princeton freshman boat finished second in a time of 6:03.5.

The Tigers will be the top seed and No. 1 squad when the May 10 EARC championships take place in Worcester, Mass. Princeton finished second to reigning Eastern and national champion Cornell last year; the Tigers defeated Cornell in Ithaca already this season.