Singles, doubles, quads, straight fours, eights – at a collegiate championship? It could only be the inaugural USRowing Collegiate Championships, the new regatta founded by the national governing body USRowing.
To dispatch some of the What and Wherefore questions up front, my personal impression is that an Open Regatta is a great idea, in theory at least: at a time when collegiate regattas are becoming more closed (only club programs at ACRA, only varsity programs at IRA, only women in NCAA, etc.), here is a collegiate regatta offering events in numerous boat classes to both genders, open to all comers, that could potentially fill the "small boat" gap that the IRA formerly filled, and which will even allow a kid who rows a single but attends a non-rowing university to row unaffiliated.
There are some significant eligibility challenges, however, notably the fact that many universities have already declared their "season-ending" regatta to occur at other races, and as a result cannot attend this one. The specifics of the eligibility issues vary by league and school.
For example, the NESCAC schools (most of which row at ECACs) have a season-length issue to contend with, and to attend this regatta would potentially have to start a week or even two weeks later in the fall. In the Ivy League, the Sprints is also the Ivy championship, and while very specific exemptions have been issued for the NCAAs, the IRA for lightweights, and for Henley, the Ivy Championship are the season-ending competition in so many other sports that for rowing to get another regatta on the exemption list could be challenging. And then there are individual university issues – asking for funds for another two-three weeks of training and another big trip may face some resistance in cash-strapped athletic departments.
Additionally, some of the schools that attend the ACRA club championship were concerned that the regatta was scheduled on the same weekend, which potentially could draw away some competitors, but also makes it impossible for ACRA crews to attend. But it is worth noting that the USRowing organizers were in a tough spot in this regard; racing a week earlier was not an option for many of the schools attending (Duke, Tulsa), as they had their regional and conference championships last weekend, and waiting another week means scheduling a Memorial Day regatta, a tough one almost anywhere you go – it would also only exacerbate some of the aforementioned season-length and budgetary issues.
Or put more simply, what other weekend could you possibly hold it? Proposed answers to this question have ranged from piggybacking with another event as to holding the event in the late fall. Glenn Merry of USRowing said the organization has made a multi-year commitment to the regatta, and hopes to work out as many of the issues as possible to make the regatta better and easier for crews to attend.
Finally, interpretation of the rules came under scrutiny this weekend as well when composite crews that had convened under the Craftsbury flag entered the men's pair. The rules state that any collegiate rowers can enter, and leaves some wiggle room for unaffiliated entries such as a single that can't row under their school's name, but did not make rules about combo entries clear. Rowers from WPI and Wesleyan got together up at Craftsbury in the pairs, and entered the regatta in a fashion that was in truth very permissible under the rules as written. It isn't clear how combo boats will be addressed in the future, but the crews were allowed to race this year, which hopefully was good for everybody.
Due in part to some of these challenges, the regatta was a somewhat modest affair this year, with 89 entries from 18 schools in 18 events, including a few two-boat finals (LM1x, LW4-, LW8, and two single-entry row-overs (M4x and LM2x). Additionally, many rowers doubled up or even tripled up in events. Additionally, save for the single, the coxed fours were the most heavily subscribed events, so the "small boat" and sculling-friendly concept the regatta embraces hasn't quite taken hold among the ranks of the participants; time will tell.
On to the racing:
In the men's single, Oklahoma City University sculler Edgar Boitmanis uncorked a smoking sprint to nip Potomac BC's Brendan McEwan in the last two strokes of the race.
"Coming in the last 500 meters I was ahead, but I let off a little because I got tired," said Boitmanis. "The other sculler got ahead of me; before the red buoys he was half a length ahead. But in the last 250 I blasted off, it was all out, and I got the medal. It was really close, I didn't know after the race which place I took.
A Latvian citizen, Boitmanis competed in the double in the first National Selection Regatta a month ago, placing second with teammate Drew McNichols. He headed home to Latvia Monday morning to participate in the national single trials in two weeks in hope of making the Latvian U23 sculling team.
In the women's single, junior Carla Horne of the University of Tulsa rowed through the field to win by a length with a headwind-cursing time of 9:14.34.
Or maybe not so headwind-cursing: "I love this type of wind," she said after the race. "Any wind on the course is good for me, and it was great to go out there and come back from third place and push into first. I was hanging on to third, moving into second every now and then, but then I just kept going." Horne barely noticed when she got through; "I turned to the side and I was ahead of everyone."
Horne rowed the single for most of her HS career at Stanton College Preparatory School, and was "very happy, but also very nervous" to get back in the single in college. Horne will be doing some sculling and coaching this summer.
In the women's 2x, the Colgate double of Vicky Hulit and Lauren Schmetterling were not so enamored of the headwind, although it didn't stop them from taking the victory. "It is a raging headwind," Schmetterling said on the medals dock. "It was a lot longer than yesterday's race. This is the duo's first year sculling; "we race the eight primarily this season," Hulit said, "then we were in the double starting a couple weeks ago, and the last two weeks really focused on getting our technique and matching together." Schmetterling added that Colgate has just purchased a number of sculling boats; "hopefully Colgate will be a big presence at this regatta."
In the men's lightweight straight four, on the medals dock the crew from Fordham held up one finger on their right hands, and two on their left hands – and they were awarded both a gold and silver medal. This came about when the Loyola crew nearly had to scratch the event when a couple lightweights were unable to race; in the end Loyola boated a heavyweight straight four, for which they got the gold medal, and Fordham was given the silver for the heavy 4-, and declared the lightweight winner.
The UMass women rowed away from the field for a 13-second win in the straight four. "We had a pretty collected race; we were behind for a little while, then we called a ratio ten, and that brought us through Tulsa and into the lead," said stroke Sam Smith, who had the steering toe for the event. Smith said she had toed a boat for one race in high school, but not since then before the past week of training in the straight four. The steering went well – once they got underway, at least, as the crew, which was sporting Bow Marker #4, came across the finish line in lane 5. "Off the start, we had a little trouble and ended up in lane 5, but we like to race in that lane, so we just stayed there!" she said with a laugh. In the three-boat event, lane 5 was an empty lane, so the crew had a clear shot to the finish and the win.
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