Saturday, May 12, 2007

2007 Dad Vail - Fours

It was a perfect day for racing when five boats, the top three from their semis, pulled to the line to challenge Pittsburgh's domination of the light four. To their right, in lane 1, the Panthers saw Brock, with George Mason in lane 2. To the left of the Panthers was Lawrence, then Duquesne, and in lane 6 was CMU. Pittsburgh must have been confident, but couldn't have been certain.

By Strawberry Mansion, Pitt had the lead, but was followed closely by Brock and Lawrence. At 1000 meters, Pitt had a length on the field. Given most Pitt races, this lead cannot have felt comfortable. Then again, a championship race is rarely comfortable.

Coming out of the 1000 Brock was hanging on to second while George Mason took over third, followed by Lawrence, Duquesne, and CMU. At the start of the island Pitt had widened its lead, Brock clung to second, but Lawrence began to move through George Mason for third.

Racing through the island, Pitt, looking unbeatable in its usual position surveying the field, had front row seats to a donnybrook unfolding behind them. By the end of the island Lawrence had taken over second and George Mason was moving into third. Brock and George Mason were in the midst of a tremendous battle as Pittsburgh crossed the line first, just over 7 seconds ahead of an impressive Lawrence crew. By the time the finish line flag moved a third time, 3 seconds later, George Mason had moved 0.3 seconds ahead of Brock for the bronze.

Although now this victory for Pitt seemed inevitable, no victory is. Rarely has a boat so deserved to win a Dad Vail championship. The Panthers took on all comers through fall and spring, defeating every one, leaving little doubt who is the top light four in the nation today. The story would end here, except for the light four exhibition race expected to take place prior to IRAs. At the moment, we've only been told that Duquesne, Wisconsin, and Georgetown have been invited, but it's hard to believe that Pittsburgh will not be included. It would be nice to see MIT and Princeton round out the field, the only two EAWRC fours that haven't faced the Panthers this spring, which would settle the issue once and for all. In the meantime, however, Pitt should bask in some well deserved glory.

Lawrence, the little school in Appleton Wisconsin, turns out to be the home of one of the top light fours in the nation. With few races this spring, and no doubt completely unknown at school, a silver medal at Dad Vail should bring them a bit of notoriety and, who knows, maybe even a few more operating dollars.

George Mason avenged their loss to Duquesne at MACCC and substantially improved their performance since Knecht. As their coach said after they got their medals, "Medaling at Dad Vail is a BIG deal." With a senior stroke, the crew won't be intact next year, but with this kind of performance this boat should get some attention next season.

Each of the crews coming in to get their medals radiated happiness. A Mason father promised his daughter chocolate chip cookies, while at least one Lawrence rower credited her coxie with nailing every call perfectly. Even Pittsburgh, who might have been forgiven if they had expected it, seemed thrilled about winning the gold. Bow seat, by the way, who is no doubt routinely mistaken for a coxswain, must be one of the most efficient athletes in rowing.

Now we just need to see how the IRA race plays out.

[Update: See comments for a nice post from CMU.]

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been dying to leave this comment here all season...
CMU had a novice freshman (obviously a walk-on, it's CMU) and two sophomores in the boat. As their stroke seat and a senior I know that they will be a force in years to come. As a novice 3 years ago, I was in the CMU varsity light 4 that took bronze. So I guess in essence what I want to say is: don't discount boats with novices!!

On another note, it's been great to see how much more competative the field has become over the past 3 years.

Ok, off my soapbox. Collegiate lightweight rowing has been a great ride, but my time has come to move on. Hopefully I'll have some more fun on the flip side... lightweight rowing after college.

Anonymous said...

Why is it when the Harvard heavyweight men have a fast crew they get tons of media attention, but when Pittsburgh sends out one of the fastest and most dominant women's 4's in the history of the sport, they only get mentioned on this blog. These are some of the best athletes in rowing. I'd love to see this 4 go up against some of the top open weight 4's. I think they'd be in for a surprise!!

Anonymous said...

Make no mistake about it, these girls were indeed thrilled to be the gold medal champs at Dad Vail's. It is true they were confident about their chances, but by no means arrogant. This "club" team work their tails off every year not to just train and prepare for their events, but to raise money to support their club. Congratulations to the entire Pitt club. They only had 6 boats @ Dad Vails and all six made it to the semi's, three to the finals and one Gold medal. Awesome.

Anonymous said...

As the stroke of CMU's lightweight four wrote, I strongly agree that novices/younger rowers, should never be overlooked. They are the future of clubs/varsity rowing programs and have so much potential to fulfill! As Pitt's stroke seat, I remember my teammates and I being intimidated by Purdue's light four at the start of our heat (as we know they have a great rowing program). While they did not make it into the final race, I must say that they impressed me most out of all the crews there. The reason...they put up a great fight as novices rowing against rowers who have been rowing together more than one year. At the end of our final, their boat came to our trailor and gave us purdue shirts as a form of tradition I had heard of of, but never actually experienced. I know that some crews may think this is a common occurance not to be thought of as "grand", but it really left us thinking WOW!!! For novices to go out of their way like Purdue's novice women did made me just as excited about rowing as winning Vails! I hope that our novices will take on this tradition as we try to further develop our club program ! Great job Purdue...you really impressed us in more ways than one! (Humble crews are hard to find)

Anonymous said...

Well it looks as if the competitive ltwt 4 races at Dad Vail are not going to be going any where any time soon. The Lawrence ltwt 4 that place second was fill with 2 second year rowers and a freshman novice stroke seat as well. Good racing by all. Hopefully we can make it another fast field next year. Heck, maybe some of us will even get invited to IRAs.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if Pitt is going to be able to make it to IRA?

Anonymous said...

The Lawrence coxswain that "nailed every call perfectly" is also an ultra-novice. Never underestimate the power of novices.

Scott Wisniewski said...

JW, great story! Congrats Pitt on a great season! I joined the Pitt rowing team when our best boat was a 4 year old Vespoli Challenger so it's nice to see Daniel, Don Heckenstaller (sp?) and the gang, get the club going.

Scott
Sculler's Deck

Anonymous said...

What exactly is an "ultra novice"?

Anonymous said...

I'd guess inexperienced (as opposed to a recruited or experienced 'novice').

Anonymous said...

i can only assume that the comment was written to indicate that the coxin had coxed for only about four other races before Vails. i agree you really never can discount a boat with novices. I've never met a novice committed enough to row a varsity boat that has let me down, and these two girls are no exception (nor were the two that came before them), clearly, as their results indicate. Thats why crew is such a great sport-a large percentage of success is not determined by tenure in the sport, but instead commitment, desire, and determination.

homes for sale costa rica said...

I love these races so grateful to those who make these blogs