Photo finishes, gentle breezes and calm water kept the competitors, coaches and crowds happy at the largest Dad Vail Regatta to date. Overall the racing in the finals was solid. About half the races were highly competitive with at least five boats in medal contention during the second half of the race. Many races, especially in the novice/ frosh category were two or three boats at 500 pushing for medals—distinctly ahead of the trailing crews. And a few races were simply dominated by the lead boat from start to finish.
Congrats to combined team point winner Purdue Crew, who boated numerous crews in the finals. The Men’s team point trophy went to Michigan, and Bucknell took home the Women’s team point trophy.
SMALL BOATS
UMass dominated the Women's small boat racing with two medals in the single and a gold in the Women's 2-.
The Women's Sculling Exhibition race was the first of the afternoon, with UMass's Emily Boucher winning by 7 seconds over UMass teammate Amanda Doolin— the silver and gold medalists took the awards dock together, posing in their mortar boards. The real racing was for third-- Oklahoma City University' s Jane Imfield nipped third from Stetson's Pricilla White by 2 seconds .
OCU sculler Matt Maddamma beat out teammates past and present on his way to the podium. Peter Alters , a former teammate of Maddamma, placed a strong second. Both Maddamma and third place finisher, Edgars Boitmanis, also raced in the OCU V8+ later in Petites. Good luck to the mens' scullers who are looking to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.
"We're excited to be here," said OCU coach Cameron Brown "to show the collegiate world the sculling talent and to develop the under 23 talent." He is hopefully that the Dad Vail Committee will add sculling to the event line-up in the future.
UMass won the Women's Varsity pair by half a boat over a strong Cincinnati crew. Washington U finished third.
Trent dominated the Men's 2-; their effective sprint was poetry in motion as they crossed the line four-seconds ahead of Colgate.
FROSH
In the Women's Frosh 4+, Fordham turned in a solid performance. Fairfield and Grand Valley followed in second and third, respectively.
Temple led the Men's Frosh 4+ field for most of the race, earning a solid gold over Colgate. The remainder of the pack continued to jockey into the last 500. Western Ontario, who was in 5th place, pulled put forth an amazing sprint and walked into third at the line, besting Virginia by .1 seconds and taking bronze.
"I told them before the race that to fight like pit bulls," said Western Ontario Coach Andrew Jago, "and they put on the race of their lives."
The first 1500 of the Women's Hwt Novice 8+ was a tight six-boat race, but by the time the boats crossed the line there was clear separation between winner Drexel, second place Lehigh and third place Purdue.
The next race down the course Men's Novice 8+ showed the same tight pack racing through the 1000, but the finish order was decided by the final 500—each boat sprinted and maintained their lead-order. Marietta, Drexel and Virginia finished one, two, three respectively.
JV EIGHTS
The excitement ratcheted up in the Women's JV 8+ where the racing was between the top two boats. The final sprint saw Drexel fighting for first, and hanging on by sheer toughness-- winning by .4 seconds despite an intense attack by Bucknell who walked each stroke of the last 150 meters.
Michigan led by open water for most of the Men's JV8+ race, though Grand Valley attempted to reel them in, walking up from a full-length back to finishing in second place by 5 seconds. Once on the medal dock, the Michigan JV showed its incredible size—average boat height of 6'5"—and infectious joy, resulting in excessive coxswain toss height.
DII and DIII FINALS
The Women's four combined DII, DIII teams into one event, with Nova Southeastern Sharks taking first by open water, leaving second place Bowdoin, and third place Philadelphia University to fight it out in front of the grandstands.
Coach Mary Lenington took the reins of the newish program this fall. "She brought a lot of focus to the team this year," said Sophomore cox Courtney Berger, who cites Lenington's communication with the team as key to their performance this season, which includes a SIRA championship in the 4+ and capturing two Dad Vail medals.
After leading the field early in the race, the Sharks took silver in the Women's DII 8+. The gold went to Mercyhurst, who came from behind in the second half to establish a firm lead and cross finish line with finesse. The distant third was dueled between Grand Valley and Central Oklahoma. Both crews kicked up major sprints in the last 300 meters, with Central Oklahoma pushing through to third place in the final two strokes of the race.
The Women's D III 8+ finished with head race type spacing across the line. Marietta looked long and strong as they claimed the gold with open water over second place Emory and third place Rochester.
EIGHTS
In the Women's V8+, Duke led the pack down the course before fending off a four-boat push for the gold. Duke was able to hold off Bucknell's powerful sprint, winning by .4 seconds. Buffalo took bronze over a solid Grand Valley crew.
The Men's 8+ race brought even the most seasoned regatta-watcher to his feet. A strong and condensed field began sprinting at the 500, with leader FIT setting the pace. Michigan was slightly (maybe a seat) behind at the 500, with Drexel , Virginia and Temple, all in the medal hunt. By the 250, with all five leading crews at full speed, Michigan and FIT were locked in a shove/ recover sprint for first that ended with a photo finish showing Michigan up by maybe 18 inches. Drexel was pushing for third, barley leading Virginia and Temple—who finished 4th and 5th respectively--.1 seconds separating them. Purdue hit debris under the bridge, knocking the skeg loose, and taking them out of the race. They finished behind the pack; and their protest went to jury, sparking speculation that the race would be re-run; but ultimately the results were upheld.
FOURS
In the Women's V4+, Drake won after maintaining its one -seat lead over a tough Old Dominion crew for most of the race. Duke finished third, and the spacing between each of the six boats in the race was considerable.
The gasping-evoking coxswain toss immediately followed as Men's 4+ winners Western Ontario narrowly missed throwing their cox into a large pile of debris. Western Ontario's powerful sprint put them on the podium. The Men's 4+ was a grandstanders dream with each boat visually lifting the rating as they came through the last 500. No places changed, but the entire field put in a great effort.
LIGHTWEIGHTS
The finish order was clear in the Men's Frosh Lwt 8+. Purdue and Delaware led through the 1000m, but by the end, Delaware's sprint put open water over Purdue, who had open water over third place Michigan.
The three-boat race for bronze was the highlight of the Women's Lwt V4+; Western Ontario and Pittsburgh comfortably finished first and second respectively. The sprint between Fordham and Clemson was decided in the final two strokes with Fordham pushing through for third.
The Men's Lwt V4+ showed the same sprint-deciding finish among its top two boats. MSOE and Chicago both turned in amazing sprints in the last 200 meters, with MSOE walking hard but falling short of catching the strong Chicago team.
"You hope for just a little bit more," said MSOE coach Charlie Stollenwerk. "I told them pre-race that we were going to need to find another gear." It is the crew's first year together, and includes only one senior.
In the Men's Lwt V8+, Mercyhurst provided a crowd-pleasing sprint—pushing through Delaware for the lead. St. Joe's pulled into bronze.
Bucknell's open water victory in the Lwt 8 is the stuff of legends: It was so dominate that one wondered if the whole field started at the same time. The other five boats were tightly packed coming into the 750 and compared to Bucknell, who sprinted alone and moved out in the last 200 meters (it is always difficult to measure "more" open water, but they did it). Comparatively, the rest of the field maintained a smooth, but distinctly non-sprint like attitude as they crossed in front of the grandstands.
PETITES
As the spectators began to leave the venue following the Varsity 8+ races, the petites provided a series of tough, close and quality racing.
In the Women's 8+, Drexel bested Dayton in another photo finish (.04 second margin). After a dog-fight down the course, Drexel held off the Flyers and a tight pack including Old Dominion, Temple and St. Joe's who finished in that order.
In the Men's 8+, Michigan State showed initiative by kicking the pack into an early sprint in aggressive attempt to best Grand Valley. GVSU was able to defend their lead through the line, finishing .1 seconds ahead of MSU. Georgia Tech, Jacksonville and George Mason hung together through the sprint and finished respectively.
In the DII Women's 8+, FIT once again showed its tenacity—sitting a half-length back on Seattle Pacific for the first 1500 meters of the race—neither boat breaking away until the final 500. Seattle Pacific's took gold by over 10 seconds, with FIT in second and Charleston a clear third.
TEAM POINT WINNERS
Kudos to the Men's and Women's team point winners, Michigan and Bucknell, respectively. The massive and cohesive Purdue team took home the combined point trophy. With two full trailers of bright yellow shells, and over one hundred athletes, the sheer size and military–like precision of this club program is impressive.
Michigan won both the Men's V8+ and the Men's JV 8+, and took bronze in the Men's Novice Lwt 8+. The crew had a sizable lead over the pack all the way down the course. The announcer repeated the "Open Water" three times to describe Michigan's dominance.
"Once they hit the turn, it was over," said coach Gregg Hartsuff about the 2V dominance. The Michigan's 1V did not have such an easy time— a tough FIT team led early in the race, and the last 500 meters was a shove/ recover lead change with each stroke.
"I'm really proud of these guys," said Hartsuff about the V8, "they had a rough early season. After that difficult start, I credit this 1V victory, in large part, to the 2V's constant pressure at practice." It wasn't until last week that the 1V started to consistently preform, said Hartsuff. The intra-team competition has seemingly paid off with both crews finding gold.
As the winner of the Men's V8+, Michigan will be traveling to the Henley Regatta this summer.
Bucknell posted the largest margin win of the day—and possibly in the history of the Dad Vail-- as their Women's Varsity Lightweight 8+ won by over 15 seconds.
The large margin was in sharp contrast to Bucknell's other medal finishes—finishing second in both the JV8+ and V8+ by less than .5 seconds. "Hats off to Duke (JV8 winner) and Drexel (V8 Winner)" said Coach Steve Kish who is quick to credit his assistant, Dan Wolleben with the wins. This season Coach Kirsch focused on the perennially-strong Lights, as well as the Fours and the 3V, turning the freshman-stroked 1V and talented 2V over to his top assistant.
Bucknell races in the ECAC on Sunday, the Lights will race at the IRAs, and the 1V will compete at Henley.
Comments | Log in to comment |
row2k's Dad Vail coverage is brought to you in part by:
row2k's Dad Vail coverage is brought to you in part by:
05/15/2012 8:11:38 AM