ECAC and MACRA Results

At the ECAC Metro Buffalo showed why it's ranked 8th as the Bulls defeated UMass by 12 seconds. This is a good result for Buffalo and also suggests that they probably got slighted in the readers' poll. Buffalo flies a bit under the radar because they don't always put out lightweight boats. They often do, however, and those boats are often fast. Buffalo plans to race at Dad Vail and I hope to see the light eight race intact. If they do, they have to be considered one of the favorites. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that a reader has commented that this Buffalo boat has three novice walk-ons in it. If Buffalo goes to IRAs they may be headed for the grand final, a result that should make the program consider putting even more focus on the lights.

At MACRAs, OSU defeated Eastern Michigan by just over a second in the eight. I'm not positive that either of these boats were lightweights, since the race is now just listed as "2V."

In the fours, we have an ominous result. Ominous if you're headed to Dad Vail and your starting point isn't Appleton, WI. Lawrence won the light four event by 19 seconds over Ohio State. Mercyhurst followed OSU by 8 seconds, and then came Chicago and Northwestern. Places 2 through 5 were separated by 28 seconds, not a huge amount, so this wasn't simply a case of a group of boats of wildly differing quality; Lawrence just took charge of this race and put it to bed. Could this Lawrence boat be the stealth boat laying in wait for Pittsburgh? I pray they're headed to Dad Vail and, if they are, I'll talk about them again in the Dad Vail preview. [Update: They are going. See comments for more.]