Navy Crew

May 18, 2008

CHERRY HILL, N.J. - The Navy women's rowing program saw four of its boats qualify for petite finals at the Eastern Sprints Championship, held Sunday on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J.

After placing fifth in its trial heat, Navy's varsity boat went on to win the third-level final to place 13th out of 18 boats at the regatta.

"We had a very good third-level final," said Navy head coach Mike Hughes. "We took control right from the start of the race."

Navy's second varsity boat was in strong shape until late in its petite final race. The Mids were even with Princeton through the first half of the course, then were in second place with 250 meters to go when Navy's stroke caught a crab that caused the oar handle to hit her in the head and throw her from the boat. With only seven rowers and a coxswain left to complete the remaining 25 strokes of the course, the Mids officially did not finish the race.

"We had a great race going until that point," said Hughes. "In my 33 years of coaching, I haven't seen something like that happen before."

Navy's other boats to compete in petite finals on the day were both third varsity boats and the first novice crew. The Mids placed 10th in the third varsity 'B' contest and 11th in the other two petite finals.

"Our top freshman boat had a decent heat in which it placed third, but we didn't finish well in the petite final," said Hughes. "Our third varsity boats had a tough go of it."

Rounding out the Navy efforts on the day was the second novice crew, which placed second in the grand final. Radcliffe won the race -- the only race of the day for the flight - with a time of 7:16.902, with the Mids finishing in second place with a clocking of 7:20.534.

"Our second novice boat had a great race," said Hughes.

First Varsity - 13th of 18
Trial Heat - 6:51.258 - 5th of 6
Third-Level Final - 6:51.850 - 1st of 6
Navy, 6:51.850; Georgetown, 6:55.614; Boston College, 6:57.146; Rutgers, 6:59.803; George Washington, 7:01.683; MIT, 7:09.828

Second Varsity - 12th of 15
Trial Heat - 6:58.249 - 3rd of 5
Petite Final - DNF - 6th of 6
Princeton, 6:48.284; Penn, 6:56.319; Bucknell, 6:57.955; Syracuse, 7:02.317; Northeastern, 7:05.482; Navy, DNF

Third Varsity A - 11th of 17
Trial Heat - 8:00.170 - 3rd of 6
Petite Final - 7:43.776 - 5th of 6
Bucknell, 7:25.319; Boston Univ., 7:32.923; Syracuse, 7:38.061; Northeastern, 7:39.997; Navy, 7:43.776; Columbia, 7:43.947

Third Varsity B - 10th of 12
Trial Heat - 8:20.114 - 4th of 6
Petite Final - 8:17.008 - 4th of 6
Yale, 8:06.244; Penn, 8:10.626; Bucknell, 8:16.090; Navy, 8:17.008; Columbia, 8:22.326; Penn, 8:32.961

First Novice - 11th of 13
Trial Heat - 7:05.751 -- 3rd of 4
Petite Final - 7:14.280 - 5th of 6
Penn, 7:03.190; Bucknell, 7:10.723; Northeastern, 7:13.018; Rutgers, 7:13.333; Navy, 7:14.280; George Washington, 7:18.813

Second Novice - 2nd of 4
Grand Final - 7:20.534 -- 2nd of 4
Radcliffe, 7:16.902; Navy, 7:20.534; George Washington, 7:30.708; Bucknell, 7:47.256