I agree, Williams deserves a little love since they are certainly not getting any all year long on that frozen tundra they call a lake. It's like white water rafting in Alaska. And you have to drive 20 miles from campus to get there. Anyone who goes fast coming out of Williams, men or women, is to be respected, IMHO.
Agreed, it was an incredible race all around between Michigan-Trinity-Williams and they just pulled it out in amazing fashion after a battle all the way down the course between all 6 boats, definitely a very deep fast field this year at ECACs
A crew can only beat the competition with which they are presented, and Vassar beat all other crews by a margin of at least 5 seconds. Given the fact that other crews in this race were physically stopped by the gusts of wind (and that was not a testament to the strength of the crews, but to the strength of the wind), Vassar did an incredible job putting enough power and passion behind each stroke to finish the race off with Vassar's second Dad Vail victory in the history of the college.
Lower level schools can race up at Vails, see Grand Valley last year winning the open event while being a DII school while their 2v still medaled in the DII event
It depends how you are doing the comparisons. If you are taking weather conditions etc. into account and doing it as a knowledgeable rower, I think that you can get an idea - though you are right that it is never fully accurate. As for racing up - I don't think that 'crew of the week' should be decided based on who was able to row in what event. Vassar was rowing, as a D-III school, in a D-III event. They raced an incredible race, and they deserve to win this.
No disrespec to the Vassar College Women but that was an incredibly weak field at Dad Vails considering their finish the week before at New York States. The Williams Men and Brock Men are the only ones to really be considered this week as they competed at the highest level available to them and pulled out upsets.
Vassar - Showing true character, this team continues to compete at top level despite the news of budget cuts that threaten the future of the sport on campus. For teams out there that face the 'new economy', look to these 8 for inspiration and some good ideas on how to keep it going!
"height and athleticism that other florida teams simply do not... not to mention they have the largest girls team in all of florida to pull from" Its laughable to say they have height considering the tallest girl is 5'10 (the junior national girl being 5'9) Nearly half of their V8 is not under 8 minutes on their 2k and most girls weigh under 140, if not below 160. I think its fair to say they are in fact underdogs and unlike a club, they can't pull from just anyone, especially in a school dominated by conventional sports that never giving rowing the time of day much less the respect it deserves. Plant girls were the underdogs.
The Plant Women's Crew rebounded from a disappointing Fla State Championship (finishing 4th (WV8) and 3rd (W2V8) respectvely) to sweep those events at the US Rowing SE Regional championship. They desire consideration. Go Plant!
Huge achievement and a convincing open water win for the Albany Girls Varsity 8! A major confidence builder for the Summer racing season. Kudos as well to the 4 Section2 boats in the final.
The Williams Men's V8 had astounding back-to-back wins in the NERCs and the ECACs - the most exciting races this season. They are without question the crew of the week. Congrats!
Even though the conditions in the final were horrendous and unfair, Brock (and Delaware) came out of nowhere and dominated the Dad Vail competition right from the opening heats. 75% of the grand stand has no ida who Brock was as they crossed the finish well ahead fo the pack, so congrats to them, even if they are Canadien.If UD won, they would be in the poll, and would have gotten my vote as well.
If anything maybe Albany Girls 8. Saratoga has been the only real womens program in the state for a while, big upset with a dark horse like Albany
Other than that, everything at the vail was all screwed up. Conditions where totally weird in a course with already unfair lanes. I believe multiple wins out of lane 6 on finals day.
i vote none of the above, and we should count next week as a double win
The Williams-Trinity-Michigan battle for first place in the Men's Varsity Eights at the ECAC's was the most exciting race I have ever witnessed. Hard fought and a fabulous win.
GO VASSAR! For a program that is being cut by their school at the end of the year and how poorly that whole situation was handled by the admins at Vassar, my vote goes to them. No matter what happens after this point, capturing their first Dad Vails victory ever is huge for the girls, their program, and its a big "take that" to the school that has let them down.
After a rough and inconsistent spring season, Plant went into the Southeast Regional Championship as the underdogs in each of their respective events, but the WV8 and the W2V8 both ended up coming from behind in their races and won both events by open water. The WV8 was a length down to the then-undefeated state champion (from two weeks ago), Orlando, boat at (approximately) the 500m mark, but ended up taking the regional championship title by just over 5 seconds (the 2V won by 9 seconds).
(As a side note, Plant's men's JV8 also won gold, so congratulations to them as well)
they had two last spring, but now they ONLY have one. look, good win for the 1V/2V, as the races were exciting. but the reality is that their top boats have underperformed all season; they should have never been ranked behind those smaller and less experienced crews. their v8 has the height and athleticism that other florida teams simply do not... not to mention they have the largest girls team in all of florida to pull from. so with all of that said, to call them underdogs is absurd. good racing for sure, but not COTW worthy. i like Williams or Albany to get the nod.
The programs that Plant raced and lost to this season have just as much if not more history and talent as they do (Plant was established in 1999, Winterpark in 1962, Lake Brantley in 1988, and I'm not sure when OARS was established). Their V8 graduated 5 girls last year and lost a lot of their top-end speed. Sure, they have talent in the boathouse, but their physical size, team size, and erg scores are overall similar to the rest of the top crews in Florida (their 4 seat was only 5' 5" and, as previously stated, there are several girls that are not sub-8:00). Maybe their weekend isn't worthy of the crew of the week title, but saying they were underperforming during the season is not fair. Their regular season schedule has them racing some of the fastest teams in Florida, and in this season in particular, OARS proved themselves to be quite quick, if not the quickest in the state, with Lake Brantley, Winterpark, and Plant all close behind them. I'm not sure what "smaller and less experienced crews" that they were ranked behind you are referring to because the three teams that beat them in the state championships, along with several other Florida teams, are most certainly fast crews of respectable size and talent, all of which are very competitive within the southeast. Being the crew that is not expected to win- even if you aren't expected to get last- gives you underdog status when you're compared to the perceived faster crew or crews that have beaten you in the past. I see where calling them an "underdog" is a bit extreme because that title certainly doesn't apply when comparing them to all Florida crews, but for lack of a better term, it applied when comparing them to OARS and potentially even Lake Brantley (concerning the regional championship), who beat them at States, too. Congratulations to Plant for winning a race that they were not expected to win, and congratulations to the other crews nominated for crew of the week who have all earned to be on here for their respective reasons.
Perhaps you do not know the circumstances of the "underperformance" which could include equipment failure, multiple injuries, and other personal reasons. This season was a physically and emotionally hard year for Plant so please do not belittle their performance until you know the facts of their entire season.
The Plant WV8 and the W2V were amazing races to watch, (even though they are our rivals) the women walked through OARS after being down open water. They could barely stand at the docks.
The Albany Girls V8 won states by 5 seconds over Saratoga who has had the title for 9 YEARS. I think this is an amazing feat, as Albany has not been among the top boats for a VERY long time. Many of these girls had 8:00+ 2ks just over a year ago, so the drastic improvements they've made really show their coaching and determination to win has gotten significantly better. At the beginning of the season Albany was a sure underdog, but now they definitely have strong contention for a spot in the GF at Youth Nat's. This is definitely a boat worthy of Crew of the Week.
Definitely Albany. To beat a team that has dominated not only the V8 but women's rowing in general in NY for almost an entire decade, is slightly more than a big deal...huge turn around for a program that was 6th last year and was mostly sculling before then.
05/14/2010 9:49:00 AM
05/14/2010 7:54:22 AM
Props to Brock on their first Vails win in the 8.
05/14/2010 9:19:58 AM
05/14/2010 7:45:31 AM
05/14/2010 7:50:19 AM
05/14/2010 7:51:50 AM
05/14/2010 9:17:56 AM
05/14/2010 7:58:58 AM
05/14/2010 10:09:23 AM
05/14/2010 7:01:44 AM
05/14/2010 2:05:32 AM
05/13/2010 9:16:17 PM
05/13/2010 9:06:27 PM
05/13/2010 6:08:00 PM
05/13/2010 9:30:45 AM
05/13/2010 7:24:20 AM
05/13/2010 6:24:20 AM
05/12/2010 7:38:26 PM
05/12/2010 4:16:32 PM
05/12/2010 2:24:42 PM
05/12/2010 2:06:44 PM
05/12/2010 1:57:40 PM
Other than that, everything at the vail was all screwed up. Conditions where totally weird in a course with already unfair lanes. I believe multiple wins out of lane 6 on finals day.
i vote none of the above, and we should count next week as a double win
05/12/2010 1:38:04 PM
05/12/2010 12:13:17 PM
05/12/2010 12:11:39 PM
05/12/2010 1:27:41 PM
05/12/2010 11:54:55 AM
05/12/2010 11:24:05 AM
(As a side note, Plant's men's JV8 also won gold, so congratulations to them as well)
05/12/2010 12:24:49 PM
05/12/2010 2:34:39 PM
05/12/2010 8:00:27 PM
05/15/2010 4:22:43 PM
05/13/2010 7:00:18 AM
05/12/2010 2:36:49 PM
05/12/2010 11:02:30 AM
05/12/2010 1:41:15 PM