Georgetown varsity and novice crews competed in to separate regattas this weekend and posted mixed results across the board. Last week, the novice crews competed in a scrimmage against UVA and George Washington, and this week they traveled to Princeton, N.J. for the Belly of the Carnegie. The varsity crews however, had a bye week last week, which proved to be helpful at least for the heavyweight men, who placed first in the Rivanna Romp on Sunday in Charlottesville, Va.
The novice crews experienced the toughest competition the collegiate rowing world has to offer this weekend when they raced against teams such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Rutgers. Though they placed close to the bottom of every category in which they competed this weekend, the Hoyas finishing times are far less significant than the preparatory experience for the spring sprint races.
Both men’s and women’s varsity crews competed this weekend against a less likely group of competitors comprised of the University of Virginia, Ohio State, Clemson, Syracuse and Duke for the women and the University of Virginia and Duke for the men.
The women were unsuccessful in their efforts, placing in the bottom half in each division, but they also gained valuable experience, especially by racing teams they do not usually face. The men’s team, on the other hand, took their bye week and their new competitors and did the best they could, placing first in the varsity four and varsity eight divisions.
“We were hoping to beat Virginia by a little more than four seconds,” said junior Spencer Scheffy. However, the team is still pleased with their first place finish. This marks the first time the varsity men’s crew has captured a first place finish since they won the Avaya Collegiate Championship last spring. The Hoyas hope to extend their winning tradition in the spring by continuing to build upon their accomplishments of this fall.
The spring season kicks off in April when sprint races of 2000 meters can be decided by a tenth of a second.
The lightweight men have much to live up to, as last year’s crew defeated Princeton for the first time ever and came within five seconds of defeating No. 1 ranked Yale. Their squad graduated five seniors and will have to rebuild a very strong crew to be competitive again. The heavyweight men secured a championship last year and only lost few valuable seniors, so look for them to make a repeat performance in a boat filled with strong juniors Dave Benchner, Spencer Scheffy, Tyler Holt, Ed Miller, Noah Bergman and coxswain Alex Taft.
