After weeks of effort by classes to construct boats out of duct tape and cardboard, the victor of this morning’s duct tape regatta was the class of 2014. Named El Tigre in accordance with Spirit Week’s cartoon theme, the freshmen boat maintained a solid lead throughout the race.

“I didn’t think we would win because we’re the freshmen and we haven’t really been winning many other events,” said Nila Banerjee (9). “[The fact] that we got first place, and were so far ahead of everybody else, gives me a lot of hope for our potential.”

Coming in second was the senior class of 2011’s boat, the Magic School Bus.

“It was definitely an exciting way to end four years of duct-tape regatta for the seniors,” said Timothy Chou (12).

On being defeated by the youngest class, Timothy said, “In our freshmen year, we also surprised everyone and won as the underdogs as well – I guess it’s just beginner’s luck.”

The sophomores followed closely in third place with the S.S. Reptar, while the juniors finished last.

Govinda Dasu (11) expressed disappointment in the results, though he holds hope for next year.

“A lot of people put a lot of effort into the engineering of the boat,” he said. “I’m sure if the same people learn from this race and work on the regatta next year, we will do very well.”

Experiencing some balancing issues, the junior boat Mystery Machine was unable to complete the regatta. Instead, last year’s boat and first place winner The Black Pearl was brought in to complete the last leg of the race.

Surprising many, there was no belly-flop competition as there has been in years past. The official results of the regatta, including point distributions, will be announced tomorrow during the rally.