Winthrop Three-Peats to Highlight the End of Intramural Season

They may have been ranked among the, well, less desirable in FlyBy’s house reviews, but Winthrop certainly knows how to show some house spirit: for a third time consecutively—and 13th time since 1935—Winthrop has again claimed the Straus Cup, the House Intramural Program championship trophy.

Winthrop IM Tutor Maria C. M. Persson Gulda first announced the result over the house list Thursday.

“I think we won again first because we’ve had great participation,” said Andrew M. Prince '10, one of Winthrop’s IM representatives. “We didn’t forfeit a single game.”

Persson Gulda cited the house’s IM representatives as another key factor in the house’s success. “They are very enthusiastic about it, they bring out a lot of people in the house, they are very good athletes themselves, and they are very good leaders,” she said.

Winthrop was ranked at the top of each of the three seasons of play, according to the Intramural Program website.

Prince said he and others in Winthrop were not surprised with the victory. “People were excited, ecstatic, but not too surprised,” he said, citing the high levels of participation and spirit surrounding IM sports in the house.

“At least as important as winning the Straus Cup is having people out there, participating, and meeting their fellow housemates,” said Prince.

Winthrop celebrated the victory yesterday with a barbeque. “We had a grill out on the patio, and a lot of people were there from the house,” said Persson Gulda.

The Straus Cup will be presented to Winthrop at 6 p.m. today in the Murr Center, along with awards for IM Athletes of the Year Kelly N. Bodwin ’11 of Kirkland House and Charles T. James ’10 of Leverett House.

“We are very excited that the Cup will come back to the dining hall because that spot is very empty right now,” said Persson Gulda.

The Straus Cup's announcement follows Eliot’s wins of three out of four of the men and women’s IM crew races on May 6, ceding only the women’s B race to Leverett. As a result, Eliot receives the Agassiz Cup, for victory in men’s A crew, and the Stone Plate for victory in women’s A crew.

“We actually christened our boat the ‘Lino Pertile’—and put the lettering on the bow—before the races in honor of his support and enthusiasm,”said Josef N. Tofte ‘10, one of Eliot’s IM crew captains, in an e-mail. Pertile, one of Eliot’s outgoing House Masters, "has been a fantastic proponent of Eliot Boat Club, and was really our inspiration this year,”  said Tofte.