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Eph Women Are Crew Champs; Men Take ThirdWilliams Sports Info - May 12, 2008
WORCESTER – The Williams women’s crew won the first, second, and third varsity eight titles at the ECAC National Invitational on a sunny day at Lake Quinsigamond.
The Williams men amassed enough points to finish third in the men's point trophy race and, in combination with the women's team, third in the overall men's and women's points trophy race.
The women's first varsity boat rebounded from last weekend's loss to Trinity in the grand finals of the New England Championships and this time edged out Trinity in an exciting final sprint, taking the title by 0.605 seconds.
The second varsity boat retained its edge on the Northeast competition and once again defeated Trinity to remain the top-ranked second varsity eight, while the third varsity event featured two Williams crews who swept the top of the podium to take the gold and silver medals.
The Williams 3V boats started the day of racing off for the Ephs with the Williams A boat racing in heat one and the Williams B boat in heat two of the third varsity eight event.
The A boat, coxed by freshman Becca Licht and stroked by sophomore Maddy Berky, bounded off the line and immediately left their competition behind, stretching their lead to an insurmountable 21 seconds by the finish with a final time of 6:59.14.
Holy Cross slid across the line in second (7:20.32), with Tufts in third (7:30.09) snagging the third and final qualifying spot for the grand final.
In the following heat, the B boat, coxed by junior Monsie Munoz and stroked by junior Nanny Gephart, used a strong start to move early on Ithaca and slowly pull away, increasing their lead to open water by the 1,000 meter mark and finishing eleven seconds up in 7:13.83 with Ithaca second (7:24.61) and Wellsley in third (7:28.95).
With first-place finishes in both heats, the two Williams boats assured themselves positions in lane one and two in the afternoon grand final.
The 2V boat, coxed by senior Nisi Zhang and stroked by sophomore Sarah Ginsberg, took lane one in the first heat of the second varsity eight event and, as they've done all year, moved ahead early and made a statement with their resounding victory.
Their time of 6:47.79 easily outpaced the University of Vermont in second (6:57.9), assuring themselves of lane one in the grand final. In heat two, Trinity defeated Smith in a nearly identical time of 6:47.29 and Holy Cross and Ithaca advanced to the grand final from the third heat.
The Williams 1V, coxed by junior Allison Prevatt and stroked by senior Emily Cheston, finished out the morning of racing with a first-place finish in their semifinal heat. Trinity set the pace from the first semifinal, laying down a 6:49.7 to top Bates (6:53.0) and UNH (6:55.2) with all three boats advancing to the grand final.
In the second semifinal, Williams rowed a strong race to set the tone for their afternoon showdown with Trinity, crossing the line with open water and nearly matching the Trinity time from the earlier heat with a 6:50.9 with St. Lawrence in second (6:56.1) and Ithaca in third (7:00.6).
After a break in the action, the Williams 3V A and B boats lined up side by side on the starting line in lanes one and two to take on Holy Cross, Ithaca, Tufts, and Wellesley.
The 3V A, as they did in their morning heat, moved away from the field instantly, taking open water on their teammates within the first 500 meters and plowing through the final 1,500 meters to a twenty second victory (7:06.69). Meanwhile, the Williams B boat battled down the entire course with a scrappy Holy Cross crew, trading seats while slowly moving ahead. While they never were able to break contact, the Williams 3V battled back from a final 300 meter surge by the Holy Cross crew to take second place by 6-seats, finishing in 7:26.5, with Holy Cross settling for third (7.29.4).
The Williams 2V, facing off with Trinity for the third time this season made it three for three, once again defeating the Trinity 2V to win the ECAC title. The Williams boat got the edge early and moved on the field, giving their fans a lot to cheer about in the final 500 meters with open water on their competitors.
A stiff headwind plagued the second varsity petite and grand finals, making their times significantly slower that their morning heat, but the Williams women nonetheless took a 6-second victory with a time of 7:28.55. Trinity finished second in 7:34.27 with Ithaca taking the bronze in 7:35.88.
The women’s varsity eight grand final drew large crowds, dominated by teammates of the Williams and Trinity 1V rowers, to the shore of Lake Quinsigamond to watch the final women’s race of the day. Clumped in groups of teammates, the Williams and Trinity spectators gritted their teeth and listened attentively to the announcer call the race from the referee's boat farther up the course, with Williams and Trinity trading early leads. Williams moved four seats up — the largest margin they would get — but Trinity stormed back to take several seats on them and set the stage for a dramatic final sprint.
As they approached the final 500 meters of the race, both teams appeared even with Williams ahead by a bow deck with 300 meters to go. Trinity made one last ditch attempt to overtake the Williams boat but the Williams 1V dug deeper and stretched their lead to a seat, crossing the finish line first in 6:46.82, 0.605 seconds ahead of second place Trinity (6:47.43). Bates took the bronze, nearly 10 seconds back, with a time of 6:57.12.
Despite winning each race they entered, not racing a novice eight or varsity fours hurt the Williams women in their chance for the women's points trophy. A consistent Ithaca program took the women’s title with hometown favorite Holy Cross in second and rivals Trinity and Williams sharing third place.
In combination with the men's team, the Williams crew program took third place in the overall points trophy race, with Trinity, on the strength of their men's team, taking the overall title.
By virtue of winning the ECAC title and being the highest NESCAC finisher, the Williams women have assured themselves an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, hosted by the Unversity of California at Berkley in Sacramento from May 30 to June 1, when they will attempt to become the first Division III crew to win three consecutive national titles.
Williams Men Take Fourth in Grand Finals
The top finish of the day came from the novice men who executed a smart race to take the silver medal in the novice eight event. The varsity men and third varsity men also rowed impressive races to take fourth in their respective grand final events. Battling a stiff wind from all directions throughout the day, the Williams men persevered to finish the day with solid results from all boats.
The men's third varsity eight started the morning off for the Williams men with their preliminary heat and raced to a second place finish to advance to the grand final later in the afternoon.
From heat one of the men's 3V eight event, Trinity, with a dominant 10-second win, Ithaca, and Wesleyan advanced to the grand final. With only a top-three finish in a four-boat race required to advance to the top final, the Williams boat, seeded second in their heat, toed the line against top-ranked Michigan and third and fourth ranked Bates and WPI crews.
Michigan cruised to the win 6:21.29, but Williams followed solidly in second place, finishing in 6:28.53, with Bates taking the last qualifying spot in 6:32.01 for third place.
The men's novice eight raced in the third of three heats and with Orange Coast College, Michigan, Virginia and Trinity having already secured bids to the grand final in the earlier two heats, the men's 1N needed a top-two finish to advance to the grand final.
Despite being ranked first in their heat, the novice crews from Hobart and University of California at San Diego were fast off the line and challenged each other for the top two spots and a trip to the grand final. In the final sprint the three crews crossed the line within a second of each other, with Hobart prevailing in 5:59.85 and Williams just nipping UC-San Diego by 0.24 seconds to advance (6:00.11 to 6:00.35).
Trinity got the ball rolling in the second varsity eight heat one with a victory over Coast Guard to claim the first two berths in the grand final.
Williams, racing in lane four of heat two, looked to pull the upset over WPI or Bates and snag a lane in the grand final, but while heavy favorite Michigan pulled away to win in (6:04.71), WPI and Bates proved to be just out of reach (6:06.94 and 6:07.9, respectively) and the Williams 2V had to settle for fourth (6:13.38) and a spot in the afternoon petite final. In the third heat Wesleyan and UC-San Diego took the last two spots in the grand final.
The men's first varsity eight ended the morning heats with an impressive heat performance, finishing second and knocking off Virginia to take a spot in the grand final. Orange Coast College pulled ahead early and pushed their bow ahead, with Williams, Bates, and Virginia all fighting to for a top-three result and a trip to the grand final.
In the final sprint, Bates gained ground on the Williams crew, who at that point were solidly in second, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Ephs who finished a second and a half down on Orange Coast (5:56.65 to 5:58.00) with Bates third in 5:58.35. Virginia (5:59.54) had to settle for the petite final. From the second semifinal Trinity, Michigan, and Marist advanced to the grand final, with rival Wesleyan just missing out and taking fourth to advance to the petite final.
The afternoon action picked up with the third varsity with Williams taking a fourth place finish in the grand final of the 3V8 event. Trinity dominated the final as they did their heat, winning by nearly ten seconds in 6:18.41 with Michigan second in 6:27.32. Ithaca took the bronze medal with a time of 6:38.34. Williams, overlapping with Wesleyan in the finishing sprint, edged the Cardinals for fourth, finishing in 6:43.31, with Wesleyan fifth in 6:45.73.
The men's novice eight, after almost missing qualifying for the grand final, stormed ahead of a tight pack of crews to take second, but nearly 8 seconds back on the powerful Orange Coast College novice eight who took the gold medal. Their time of 6:23.81 bested Hobart (6:26.81) who had handed them a loss in their heat earlier in the morning, and Virginia (6:27.53). The novice men’s finish was the best of the day for any Williams men's boat.
The Williams second varsity eight entered a competitive and tight petite final, coming out in third place to take ninth overall in the 2V8 event. Ithaca was able to gain an edge on the field after a close race down the first 1,000 meters of the course, winning the petite final in 6:45.58. Williams battled with Bates and University of New Hampshire through the final 500 meters, emerging in third, with Bates second in 6:47, Williams third in 6:48.67, and UNH in fourth 6:49.33.
The men's varsity eight grand final was to be the final race of the day and Williams, entered in lane four lined up with Trinity, Michigan, Orange Coast, Marist, and Bates. The top three crews — Trinity, Michigan, and Orange Coast — separated from the field and went on to secure the top three early in the race with Williams, Marist, and Bates sprinting for fourth through sixth place.
Williams gained the edge in the final 500 meters of the race, pulling out a two second victory, barely half a length, to take fourth in 6:07.16. Marist, who Williams had defeated earlier at Lake Onota for the first time in many years, was fifth in 6:09.20 and Bates followed in 6:11.3.
The 2007 ECAC Championships were suspended because of poor weather, but in 2006 the Williams 1V placed third in the petite finals and ninth overall, making the fourth place result for the 2008 Williams 1V crew a testament to the hard work and dedication to improvement by this crew.
The ECAC Championships marks the end of the Williams men's crew collegiate season. |
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