Here is Head Coach Gil Birney with highlights from our weekend at Knecht Cup in West Windsor, New Jersey:
“Saturday was quite warm and relatively still until the end of the day, and with high winds predicted for Sunday the Race Committee rearranged the schedule to get in as much racing as possible ahead of the weather… so the 4 crews who left campus Saturday morning thinking they were only racing on Sunday were surprised to learn their events had been moved up a day!…we managed to get them all launched in time for their events which was a bit of a miracle, but it worked.
And the results were impressive!
In the morning heats, the First Novice Men advanced to the finals behind Carnegie Mellon, while the Second Novice Men were just .2 behind Penn State for a 5th in the heat, but did not advance…
In the Men’s Varsity Four Div. 2/3, both our crews won their heats to advance to afternoon finals…
In those finals, the Novice Men won the gold, ahead of Carnegie Mellon, UConn, UNH, Villanova, UConn B and George Mason…and the Varsity Men finished gold and silver besting Wentworth, CMU, Stockton, Franklin and Marshall, and US Merchant Marine…
And the rescheduled crews all rose to the occasion as well…
the M2V won the silver behind George Mason and ahead of Rhode Island, Franklin and Marshall and UConn
and in the Women’s Varsity D3 event, we took gold and silver, ahead of Franklin and Marshall, CMU, and North Park, with our third entry in 6th and ahead of The College of New Jersey, after a very exciting, chaotic start into the rising wind in the last event of the day…
that wind built through the night, and though we launched our Men’s Varsity 8 D2/3, the Committee called them off the water and cancelled all Sunday racing for safety’s sake… it was a good call… and the men landed safely, proclaiming they remained undefeated on the day!
Thanks to all you supporters who faced the changing schedule and launches with your usual good humor and patience…
Looking ahead, we have racing next Saturday in Lowell for the Riverhawk Challenge, and Sunday in Greene for The President’s Cup with Bates and Colby…we’ll get those details out as soon as we have them!…”