RR Weekend Review: Cal v. Washington, Tigers Victorious, UVA's Sauer ACC Coach of the Year
National Team:
Congratulations to Gevvie Stone and Ken Jurkowski, who had success at the first NSR over the weekend. Jurkowski, who explains that he has only been on the water for three weeks in his post-race interview with USRowing, won the Men's 1x by a narrow 1.2 seconds over Glenn Ochal, who has been in the 2x with Warren Anderson for some time. Unfortunately, we didn't see Anderson, nor did we see Will Miller, both of whom finished ahead of Ochal at the Speed Order earlier this month (Anderson won the event, with Miller finishing in 2nd place, 5 and 1.5 seconds ahead of Ochal, respectively). Where were Miller and Anderson this weekend? We thought they might be rowing the 2x and focusing on that, but they were beaten in the 2x at the same April 1st Speed Order by Ochal and Piermarini. It's difficult to understand how McLaren decided whom to send over to NSR, as Silas Stafford and Sam Stitt (who won the Men's 2- on Friday) were the only sweep rowers to make the trip from Chula Vista, though they were 3rd at the Speed Order.
Gevvie Stone took the Women's 1x ahead of a very strong field of sculler's from the USRowing Training program. Hopefully they will be able to bring home a medal in the 4x or 2x this summer.
RR Interviewee Will Daly took top honors in the Men's LWT 1x, with Julie Nichols coming out on top in the Women's event.
Collegiate Racing:
The Cal v. Washington Dual took place over the weekend, and saw Cal winning more races across all boat categories than did UW. The Cal women swept Washington, marking the first loss for the UW Women's Frosh since Nicole Minett took over in 2009. On the men's side, UW took the Schoch Cup with a one length victory in the Varsity 8 (video of the finish below), but also put their depth on display, as the margins of victory for the Huskies greatly increased in the 2V8 and the Varsity 4+. Washington crushed the Cal Varsity 4+, showing that perhaps there is little to zero drop off in athletes from the Varsity 8 all the way down to the Varsity 4+. Cal, however, won the Frosh 8 by open water in an impressive 5:42.87, marking a change in the trend from the past several years of UW dominating the Frosh category.
We are looking forward to some very competitive racing among Cal, Stanford and the USC women at the Pac-10 Championships next month. The Husky men look to be the clear favorite for the Ten Eyck trophy at this year's IRA, but Cal will have something to say about the Varsity 8 and the Freshman 8.
Congrats to the University of Virginia women, who won the ACC Championship, and to Kevin Sauer, who won ACC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row (and seventh time overall) over the weekend. The Cavaliers once again showcased their depth by winning every event over their conference rivals, racking up 60 team points in the process (click here for the full story on their performance from the UVa Women's Rowing official website). Clemson took 2nd overall, and the Clemson Varsity 8 was named ACC Crew of the Year for 2011 (for more Clemson's performance, click here).
The Yale women suffered another blow this weekend as they struggle to match the speed of the Varsity 8 from the last several years, losing to Radcliffe by one length in Boston.
The BU Men's Varsity 8 proved that it will be a contender, with a 3/4 length victory over Syracuse, and 9 seconds ahead of Columbia to take the Conlin Cup and Lusins Cup respectively. Brown and Dartmouth also mixed it up in incredibly quick conditions -- Brown sweeping the event, but with just 0.7 seconds separating the two Varsity 8s. Difficult to take much from this, however, as the conditions produced times that were some 15+ seconds below World Record pace (5:05.7 for Brown, with Dartmouth coming across in 5:06.4).
Princeton University's teams had a great weekend with the openweight women and lightweight men sweeping all of their races while the Heavyweight men won every race against Yale and Cornell except for the 3rd Varsity 8 race (video of the Varsity 8 race below). The Princeton lightweight women defeated Radcliffe lightweights in the Varsity 8, but lost in the 2nd Varsity 8. Great weekend to be a Princeton Tiger.
The Yale heavyweight men fell hard this weekend. Is that reflective of their true speed or were they just too tired heading into the weekend's racing? We'll see as Gladstone goes back to work to get them ready for Sprints in a few weeks. Cornell proved that they are indeed competitive this year in the Varsity 8, despite an early season loss to Harvard (conditions in that race seem to have made for a result that was not indicative of relative speed), as they were inside a length to a very quick Princeton Varsity 8 on Saturday.
Note for FeedBurner Subscribers: Click the title of the article to view the videos of Cal v. UW and Princeton, Cornell, and Yale on our website.
-The RR Editorial Staff
Congratulations to Gevvie Stone and Ken Jurkowski, who had success at the first NSR over the weekend. Jurkowski, who explains that he has only been on the water for three weeks in his post-race interview with USRowing, won the Men's 1x by a narrow 1.2 seconds over Glenn Ochal, who has been in the 2x with Warren Anderson for some time. Unfortunately, we didn't see Anderson, nor did we see Will Miller, both of whom finished ahead of Ochal at the Speed Order earlier this month (Anderson won the event, with Miller finishing in 2nd place, 5 and 1.5 seconds ahead of Ochal, respectively). Where were Miller and Anderson this weekend? We thought they might be rowing the 2x and focusing on that, but they were beaten in the 2x at the same April 1st Speed Order by Ochal and Piermarini. It's difficult to understand how McLaren decided whom to send over to NSR, as Silas Stafford and Sam Stitt (who won the Men's 2- on Friday) were the only sweep rowers to make the trip from Chula Vista, though they were 3rd at the Speed Order.
Gevvie Stone took the Women's 1x ahead of a very strong field of sculler's from the USRowing Training program. Hopefully they will be able to bring home a medal in the 4x or 2x this summer.
RR Interviewee Will Daly took top honors in the Men's LWT 1x, with Julie Nichols coming out on top in the Women's event.
Collegiate Racing:
The Cal v. Washington Dual took place over the weekend, and saw Cal winning more races across all boat categories than did UW. The Cal women swept Washington, marking the first loss for the UW Women's Frosh since Nicole Minett took over in 2009. On the men's side, UW took the Schoch Cup with a one length victory in the Varsity 8 (video of the finish below), but also put their depth on display, as the margins of victory for the Huskies greatly increased in the 2V8 and the Varsity 4+. Washington crushed the Cal Varsity 4+, showing that perhaps there is little to zero drop off in athletes from the Varsity 8 all the way down to the Varsity 4+. Cal, however, won the Frosh 8 by open water in an impressive 5:42.87, marking a change in the trend from the past several years of UW dominating the Frosh category.
We are looking forward to some very competitive racing among Cal, Stanford and the USC women at the Pac-10 Championships next month. The Husky men look to be the clear favorite for the Ten Eyck trophy at this year's IRA, but Cal will have something to say about the Varsity 8 and the Freshman 8.
Congrats to the University of Virginia women, who won the ACC Championship, and to Kevin Sauer, who won ACC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row (and seventh time overall) over the weekend. The Cavaliers once again showcased their depth by winning every event over their conference rivals, racking up 60 team points in the process (click here for the full story on their performance from the UVa Women's Rowing official website). Clemson took 2nd overall, and the Clemson Varsity 8 was named ACC Crew of the Year for 2011 (for more Clemson's performance, click here).
The Yale women suffered another blow this weekend as they struggle to match the speed of the Varsity 8 from the last several years, losing to Radcliffe by one length in Boston.
The BU Men's Varsity 8 proved that it will be a contender, with a 3/4 length victory over Syracuse, and 9 seconds ahead of Columbia to take the Conlin Cup and Lusins Cup respectively. Brown and Dartmouth also mixed it up in incredibly quick conditions -- Brown sweeping the event, but with just 0.7 seconds separating the two Varsity 8s. Difficult to take much from this, however, as the conditions produced times that were some 15+ seconds below World Record pace (5:05.7 for Brown, with Dartmouth coming across in 5:06.4).
Princeton University's teams had a great weekend with the openweight women and lightweight men sweeping all of their races while the Heavyweight men won every race against Yale and Cornell except for the 3rd Varsity 8 race (video of the Varsity 8 race below). The Princeton lightweight women defeated Radcliffe lightweights in the Varsity 8, but lost in the 2nd Varsity 8. Great weekend to be a Princeton Tiger.
The Yale heavyweight men fell hard this weekend. Is that reflective of their true speed or were they just too tired heading into the weekend's racing? We'll see as Gladstone goes back to work to get them ready for Sprints in a few weeks. Cornell proved that they are indeed competitive this year in the Varsity 8, despite an early season loss to Harvard (conditions in that race seem to have made for a result that was not indicative of relative speed), as they were inside a length to a very quick Princeton Varsity 8 on Saturday.
Note for FeedBurner Subscribers: Click the title of the article to view the videos of Cal v. UW and Princeton, Cornell, and Yale on our website.
-The RR Editorial Staff
