Cabot Wins Straus Cup Again, Sets New Record

Cabot House solidified its place in Harvard intramural (IM) history by clinching its seventh straight Straus Cup last week to claim sole ownership of the longest winning streak in IM history. The official announcement came during the final House IM meeting last Monday afternoon.

With its seventh straight championship, Cabot broke a record previously held by Kirkland House, which took home six consecutive Strauss Cups in the early 1960s.

“I think this record’s going to stand for a long time,” said Cabot co-athletic secretary Wesley Shih ‘01.

The Cabot victors celebrated their accomplishment at a party in the House junior common room last Friday. The festivities included a rousing introduction by Cabot co-master James Ware, the recognition of outstanding individual achievements and musical parodies of popular songs adapted to fit the IM theme.

Cabot ended the season with 1,588.88 total IM points, narrowly beating out Kirkland, which had 1,531. Pforzheimer House finished third with 1,149.7 points.

This year’s win by Cabot was the closest in the past seven years, with second-place Kirkland only 57 points behind.

Kirkland’s IM program has enjoyed a renaissance under co-coordinators Elisha Yaghmai ’01 and Paul Daubenmire ’01 in recent years.

Kirkland residents said they were also spurred on in the hopes of protecting their House’s decades-old Straus Cup record.

“This year, people were more motivated,” Yaghmai said. “Recruiting became easier, and more of the House got involved.”

Cabot emerged from the fall season in a tight pack. Cabot, Kirkland, Pforzheimer and Dudley Houses were among the frontrunners heading into the winter season.

None of the top four teams performed incredibly well in the winter sports, and the spring season began with Cabot five points behind Kirkland in the overall standings.

Cabot only won two events outright in the spring season—women’s a-level crew and men’s b-level crew. However, the House finished second in almost every other season event to gain first in the cumulative standings. Kirkland had more first-place spring finishes than any other house—including both A and B volleyball, swimming, tennis and men’s a-level crew—but finished far from the top in the other sports.

Cabot Intramural Tutor Corey Wilson said Cabot’s high level of participation was one of the main reasons for Cabot’s dominance.

“A lot of the stuff we win, we win because we field two or three teams in each event,” Wilson said.

Cabot’s ability to assemble successful if not spectacular teams in every sport has been noticed by its competitors.

“A lot of houses specialize,” said Winthrop House IM co-coordinator Alana E. Murphy ’02. “Adams is known for its basketball, Kirkland for crew. But Cabot consistently fields decent teams in every sport. Kirkland has a huge turnout, with two or three teams for every sport. But it isn’t as consistent across the board.”

Cabot’s Straus Cup wins began with former tutor Billy Weitzel ’90, who revitalized IM life at Cabot. Weitzel has since left, but the tradition he created continues to flourish. Intramurals are widely viewed as the center of Cabot House life, House members said.

Wilson said Cabot has been able to build on past successes—both in winning and in creating a House community where IM sports are viewed as important.

“Part of it is that we’re quadded, and that gives us a greater sense of community than the River Houses,” Wilson said. “But also, no one wants to be part of the class that doesn’t win it. We faced more pressure this year, and it only brought more people out.”

Shih said Cabot IMs have added considerably to his time at college.

“It’s changed my House life experience a great deal and it provides a lot of continuity,” Shih said. “Setting a record sort of changes my perception of Harvard.”

Now that the record has been set, Cabot is left with a challenge for the upcoming years.

“The intangible thing we’ve had all this time has been wanting to tie the record at six, then break it at seven,” Wilson said. “We’ve had something to strive for. It will be interesting to see how it works out next year.”

—Staff writer Martin S. Bell can be reached at msbell@fas.harvard.edu.