UD men’s crew
Club team has strong weekend showing, gains in rankings
8:34 a.m., April 15, 2011--The University of Delaware men's crew club team had impressive racing results last weekend. The heavyweight squad competed at the Knecht Cup in Camden, N.J., while the lightweights traveled to Lake Lillinonah in Connecticut to duel Dartmouth College.
The varsity heavyweight eight entered the regatta unseeded but finished second in the heats behind Bucknell University to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, UD finished third behind both Temple University and Marist College to advance to the grand final.
Sports Stories
Rower honored
Unsung Hero
Off the start in the final, the Hens found themselves in fourth place for the first half of the race. Entering the second 1,000 meters of the race, the heavyweight crew was able to battle back to the second place position and within three seats of the leading Temple crew.
In the final 500 meters of the race, UD and Temple drew even with 250 meters to go but Temple was able to edge out the win 1.44 seconds ahead of UD. Trinity College took third with Marist, Drexel University and Grand Valley State rounding out the field.
"We were able to position ourselves well enough to get into the final of racing,” said head coach Chuck Crawford. "The eight had a great race, and rowed tough in the final. We had a very fast final 500 meters but Temple was able to sprint just a little bit better. I'm very proud of our crew and looking forward to more competitive racing leading up to the Dad Vail Championship in May."
On Lake Lillinonah, UD and Dartmouth traded races with UD winning the freshmen lightweight eight and the third varsity eight. The third varsity eight led wire to wire to defeat the Big Green crew by over 20 seconds.
The freshmen eight had a much tougher win, with Dartmouth taking the lead after the first 30 strokes. UD was able to stay within striking distance the entire race, drew even in the final 500 meters and was able to power through them with a sprint 0.3 seconds ahead of the Big Green.
The first varsity crew finished in 6:09.3, nine seconds behind the Dartmouth's eight, and the second varsity finished in 6:16.6 to Dartmouth's 6:02.5.
"Dartmouth raced very tough against us. We were surprised with their speed off the start, but were able to still maintain our race focus and have a nice sprint to end the race," remarked freshmen lightweight coach Phil Kleimain, a 2008 graduate of UD. "I'm proud of our guys effort and determination to edge out a win."
After impressive results, UD's heavyweight eight moved up in the ACRA national rankings from seventh to third place behind only the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia.
UD's lightweight eight regained its spot in the USRowing national poll in the seventh position, ahead of Dartmouth College, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan and Marietta College.
The heavyweights continue racing this weekend at the SIRA Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn., while the lightweights travel to Washington, D.C., to square off against Georgetown University and the Naval Academy.