Spring Break
Crew teams both enjoy success at Knecht Cup
Michael Sipos
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Sports
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The men's freshmen/novice eight also had a successful finish, placing fifth in the Knecht Cup after only practicing three days together as a boat prior to the race.
The Knecht Cup is an important race for placement in the Dad Vail Regatta, the Championship race, which takes place May 8-9. And after a tough loss at the San Diego Crew Classic April 4-5, the women's varsity eight looked to bounce back into competition.
"After our disappointing finish at the San Diego Crew Classic, this was a much-needed win for the women's varsity eight," Vanessa Clifford, a senior rower, said. "And by attaining the bronze at the Knecht Cup, we were able to prove that we can beat local rivals such as Temple, Villanova and Delaware again. We pretty much trained them to lose to us for our future competitions."
The women's varsity eight finished with a time of 7:12.5, beating out Delaware by over 24 seconds, as well as Wisconsin (lightweight) and New Hampshire. And with their finish, it's even more impressive that they performed the way they did with such little time to prepare.
"This week was especially hard to prepare because of our trip coming back from the San Diego competitions," Clifford said. "We only had three days to prepare, but we really focused on Thursday and had a solid practice to prepare us for Friday's races."
The men's freshmen/novice eight also had the same amount of time to practice, but it is was the first time the eight practiced together within the span of two weeks.
"When we went to San Diego there wasn't a freshman boat," Pat McGann, a freshman rower who competed with the men's varsity team in San Diego, said. "All of us were excited to get back rowing together again, so we had a good week at practice and were refreshed from the nice weather and got to work."
The boat finished with a time of 7:11.9 in the grand finals at the Knecht Cup and placed fifth out of a field of 17. It beat out Hobart (7:15.3), who finished sixth while placing just under three seconds behind fourth place LaSalle (7:08.6).
With impressive finishes this past week, both the men's and women's teams look to come away with a Colonial Athletic Association conference championship this upcoming weekend, which is hosted by Drexel on the Schuylkill River.
It is the first time the CAA has recognized rowing as a sport within the conference.
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