I find it quite astounding that Franklin and Marshall won this one. It's such a small school winning a poll like this over schools like Yale is truly a testament to their charisma and school spirit! GO DIPS!!! (smush, smush)
On Thursday afternoon multiple people found themselves unable to cast votes for the Buffalo team. All the while F&M votes continued to climb and infact jumped hugely mid afternoon, so I assume the system was up and running. People I know were trying to vote for Buffalo but were being informed they had already voted, when they had not. Even from a private computer that was not shared. Seems even trying to vote at a public place was denied. Apparently this voting is set up so one computer can vote once...even if multiple users at a public place want to vote. Also in cases where people try to use the same work computer to vote, as when people share a work computer, they could not. Not sure what these polls are proving but they are definitely skewed towards a population where each individual has their own private computer...so that can help explain why some colleges win at times...perhaps this is why some people seem to not bother voting (Yale?) if they are aware of how this works (or doesn't work)
@Kaschper, valid point needing to take into account the levels of the various leagues, but a big justification for Crew of the Week is when somebody takes their performance one or more notches higher, and reaching a new milestone. Kudos to UVA for making such a strong statement after being ranked #2 last week, but but the other programs like F&M and Marietta accomplished something they have never done before, and that means something.
F&M Rowing has only been an athletic program since the 80's and a varsity program for less than 10 years. Their first place finish at MARCs is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of those athletes and to the substantial growth in the program as a whole. It will be interesting to see how they continue to grow.
Marietta, Buffalo, Oklahoma, Orange Coast, and Franklin Marshall are all part of relatively non-competitive leagues. This is not to knock their accomplishments; all members of all of those crews endured hard winter training, countless hours of hard practice, and only a few shots at proving themselves, but they are not part of the same competitive leagues as Virginia and Yale.
The top women's rowing schools are increasingly competitive, and many of these top crews can now hold their own against (not necessarily beat) U-23 or perhaps some national teams' crews. I can't pick them for this week though for the following reason.
The Yale Lights row in an equally competitive league, a league where heavy recruiting ensures that the level of competition among Sprints schools is incredibly fierce year in and year out. To have an undefeated season in this league is a true testament to the drive in each of the athletes in this year's Yale Freshman crew.
I really don't know enough about high school rowing to comment on Roman Catholic.
These are all great crews with great accomplishments. I am voting for the underdog lighweight women of the Buffalo V4. They raced in a V4 openweight race in a tough race and won the gold against much bigger rowers, that takes a huge amount of courage. Racing lightweights against openweights and having them get that gold win is an extra special accomplishment...especially for a young program such as the one at Buffalo.
My vote goes to the Yale LM Freshmen 8. The boat is the only EARC freshmen boat to remain undefeated before Sprints. Last weekend 3 undefeated first freshmen crews (Princeton, Harvard and Yale) fought it out on a fast course and Yale rowed a strong sprint at the end to remain undefeated. My hats off to these other nominated crews, but Yale LW Freshmen have "guts in the boat."
Congrats to F&M on their win at MARC. Just want to clarify a few facts: Marietta is not the current SIRA champion in the MV4+, Emory is. Marietta didn't even win the B Final at SIRA.
05/03/2012 2:40:51 PM
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The top women's rowing schools are increasingly competitive, and many of these top crews can now hold their own against (not necessarily beat) U-23 or perhaps some national teams' crews. I can't pick them for this week though for the following reason.
The Yale Lights row in an equally competitive league, a league where heavy recruiting ensures that the level of competition among Sprints schools is incredibly fierce year in and year out. To have an undefeated season in this league is a true testament to the drive in each of the athletes in this year's Yale Freshman crew.
I really don't know enough about high school rowing to comment on Roman Catholic.
This is the ultimate popularity contest.
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