April 7, 2008

The UD women's rowing team had a strong showing this weekend at two different regattas, particularly in the Varsity, Second Varsity, and Novice 8 events.

The Varsity 8 won every race they rowed, and improved significantly on times from last year. The Second Varsity 8 was only beat by one contender, Bucknell, and the Novice 8 came back from losing to George Washington by less than a second in the first race to beating them by over 10 seconds in the final race.

Saturday, April 5, 2008 - UD Regatta
The racing began on Saturday with a home race at Eastwood Lake in Dayton, where proceedings were delayed for two hours due to heavy fog.

Once racing began, the Varsity 8 started the day with a win over West Virginia and Duquesne with a time of 6:33.1. West Virginia and Duquesne went 6:39.8 and 6:52.8, respectively.

The Second Varsity 8 clocked in at 6:50.1 to win over two Duquesne boats, and the Novice 8 also won by open water, clocking 7:05.8 over West Virginia and two Duquesne boats. Unfortunately the Lightweight 8 time of 7:30.8 was no match for the speed of the Duquesne lightweights, who clocked a 7:00.8

In the 4's events, Dayton's Varsity 4 finished behind West Virginia and Duquesne with a time of 8:21.9. Dayton's Novice 4A crossed the finish just 11 seconds behind Duquesne and five seconds ahead of West Virginia with a time of 8:11.4. UD's Novice 4B won its race with a time of 8:33.5.

Full results for Saturday's race can be found at:
Row2K.com

Sunday, April 6, 2008 - Washington D.C. Regatta
The Flyers then traveled into the night to race near Washington, D.C. the following day. The race was a Triple Dual format, meaning not all the teams raced each other at once.

The race opened with the Varsity 8 beating George Mason by 3.2 seconds with a time of 7:16.0. Later in the day they edged out George Washington by .83 seconds with a time of 6:55.5.

The Second Varsity 8 also won its race against George Mason with a 7:28.7, 6 seconds faster than the George Mason 8. The Second Varsity's only loss of the weekend was by about 17 seconds to Bucknell, but in the same race they too beat George Washington by four seconds with their fastest time of the day: 7:16.2

In the Novice 8's first race they clocked a time of 7:33.9, which put them a disappointing 9 tenths of a second behind George Washington, and about 11 seconds behind George Mason. They got another shot at George Washington in the afternoon however, and were able to beat them by about 10 seconds that time with a 7:25.1. Bucknell won the race with a time of 7:14.3.

Bucknell topped Dayton in the Varsity 4 events, and beat George Washington and Dayton in the Novice 4s. Dayton's Lightweight 8 finished between Georgetown's first and second Lightweight 8's.

Full results for Sunday's race can be found at
Row2K.com

Head coach Derek Copeland said he was excited about the weekend's results and is anxious to see what speed can be gained over the next two weeks.

The Flyers' next race is the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in Camden, N.J., on Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19.